The Daily Alaska empire., 1947-02-21
HOUSE HEARS pR0BLEM50F
 OUR FISHERY
Vukovi(h Memorial Ask ing More Enforcement
 Attacked on Floor

Whether or not a Legislature Memorial should point out the num- Der of fishery regulations violation cases that were brought before the Alaska Court in one year, and the lightness of the penalties that were assessed, was the main subject in the House of Representatives during this mornings two-hour session.
 The matter under discussion is contained in House Joint Memorial l3, introduced by Rep. Steve Vuko- vich Yesterday the Committee on Fisheries handed the memorial back to Rep. Vukovich with the request that he revise it. This morning he handed it back to the House un- revised and by suspension of the rules it was placed at the head of of the calendar in second reading
 The fight against some portions of the memorial was lead by Reps. Andrew Hope and Frank Johnson, both fishermen from the First Di- vision.
 Weirs Not Wanted A section which read, Fish weirs must be constructed for the hand ling of the upstream movement of spawning salmon and the down. stream movement of fingerlings," was attacked and stricken from the text by vote of 2l-3.
 Rep. Frank Johnson said that the fish runs of many streams have been ruined by placing weirs in them and cited Klawock Stream as an example. The weir, he said does not permit the salmon to go up and down the stream in nor nal manner until such time as they are ready to spawn.
 Rep. Vukovich remarked that Johnson did not give the Fish and Wildlife Service credit for it's years of experience in the matter, and Rep. Engstrom said that she would prefer to take the word of the fishermen on matters relating to fisheries, to that of the Fish and Wildlife Service which runs our fisheries from Washington
 Fisherman Is Heard
 Carl Wiedman. representing the United Trollers of Alaska, CIO, was called upon to give his views on fish weirs, but wound up with discussion of the whole measure.
 Wiedman said that he has had 20 years of experience in fishing, and that he is familiar with condi- tions not only in Alaska but in Hawaii and around the Sacramento River in California. He indicated that he represented the views of some 25,000 CIO fishermen as to the memorial under consideration. Never in the history of Alaska have there been more violations Of fishery regulations than in the past year" Wiedman said, and if 1t continues for three more years, we won't need any regulations because there won't be any fish left"
 For Big Business
 The Fish and Wildlife Service is strictly for the big corporations, not for the people of Alaska, Wied- man charged. He said both traps and movable gear have been violat- ing the regulations and called at tention to Canada where, he said there are few traps and many watchmen in closed areas. The small fishermen there make good catches without violating the regu- lations, he said;
 Rep. Andrew Hope said that the memorial points finger at the small fishermen and not at the traps and that there should be a limitation of the catch by traps.
 The reason there has not been more enforcement of the regulations is that they are not popular with the general public and many of the officials, Rep. Frank Johnson said. He compared the situation with that of the whole country at the time the Volstead Act was in force. Records Are Wrong The section of the memorial found objectionable by Reps. Hope, F. Johnson and others points out that in 1943 there were 67 cases before the Justice Courts, involving 234 persons, two traps. 36 purse seiners, 21 gill netters and one beach sein- CTS.
 Rep. Hope said that some of these cases were not actual violations and cited one instance in which boat crew entered plea of guilty rather than to fight the case in court dur ing the best part of the fishing season.
 The amendment to delete the sec tion regarding violations had not (Continued on Page Tl0oj