We'll ‘Watch the Fish Go By’ to Russia,
Japan Fishers, Testify Alaska Anglers
JUNEAU, <jP — The 1952 North
Pacific fishing treaty has been
“turned to ashes in our hands,”
an Alaska fisherman told a one
man Senate subcommittee Wed
nesday night.
The testimony was offered by
Harry Shawback, a fisherman
from Dillingham, in the heart of
the Bristol Bay region that once
was the world’s greatest red sal
mon area.
He was one of 25 witnesses who
appeared in support of Congres
sional legislation that would ban
American imports of immature
salmon taken off the high seas.
The proposed ban is aimed di
rectly at Japan, which with Can
ada and the United States is a
party to the international North
Pacific agreement. Of the three
nations, Japan is the only one with
high seas salmon fisheries.
Alaskans, prohibited from high
seas salmon fishing, accused Jap
anese of vast catches of immature
Bristol Bay salmon.
Shawback said Japanese small
mesh gear, which he iaid was used
to net immature salmon, destroys
“two fish for every one they
catch."
He was sharply critical of what
he called the Japanese attitude
toward the Bristol Bay problem.
Shawback singled out a state
ment two weeks ago by a spokes
man for the Japanese fishery
board at Tokyo, saying fishermen
of his country “catch American
spawned salmon but accordingly
American fishermen catch Japan
ese-spawned ones.”
“We’re not catching Japanese
fish,” Shawback told Senator Bob
Bartlett, representing the Senate
Initerstate and Foreign Commerce
Committee. “Americans are not
fishing on the high seas.”
American and Canadian fisher
men are restricted to off-shore j
catches of salmon returning to na- !
tive streams to spawn — the end
of the life cycle for the fish.
The spawning runs in Bristol
Bay have declined rapidly in re
cent years, and last month the fed
eral government prohibited all
American fishing in the bay this
year.
The closure order was followed
BRING YOUR
WATCH
to the
Noirfe Drug Store
for .
EXPERT REPAIRS
a week later by reports of a fleet
of more than 50 Russian fishing
vessels in the Bristol Bay area.
The sighting of the Russian boats,
presumably after bottom fish or
halibut, immediately led to Alaska
support for moves to include Rus
sia in a four-power North Pacific
treaty.
But Truman Emberg, a Dilling
ham fisherman, told the hearing
here that the American closure
of Bristol Bay was a “high
handed” federal action that threat
ened abandonment of the nation’s
“historic rights in the fishery” to
Japan and Russia.
In view of the foreign fishing
efforts in Bristol Bay, Sen. Bart
lett said, “That’s a very, very per
suasive argument” for continued
American fishing.
The closure order makes little
sense to the Indian and <Eskimo
residents of Western Alaska, who
depend on the fishery for their
livelihood, said Herman Schroe
der, another Dillingham fisher
man. He told the hearing:
“The majority of the native
population can’t understand how
anyone could ask them to sit on
the river bank and watch the fish
go by; and while they and their
families hunger, another people
from a foreign land be allowed to
take these fish in unlimited quan
tity.”
“The Bristol Bay closure is
caused mostly by Japanese fish
ing,” said Walter Naden, president
of the Tanuak Indian Credit Asso
ciation at Dillingham, and a na
tive fisherman and bush pilot.
“If the bay is closed.” Naden
said, “most of the operations of
the area will be forced out except
those carrying relief and medical
supplies.” He added.
“I have a wife and 11 kids. I’m
their sole support. I earn all my
money from fishing. I suppose I
could move, but a person hates to
give up his native home.” Besides,
he added:
“It would take a task force to
move my family.”
Peter Gilmore, manager of the
Juneau office of the Alaska Sal
mon Industry, Inc., said the Jap
anese had lived up to a prohibi
tion against their fishing east of
a treaty line at 175 degrees west
longitude in the North Pacific.
But, he said, their fishing effort
violated the principle of absten
tion in the international pact de
signed to maintain a maximum
sustained yield of the North Pa
cific fishery resources.
NOME SANITARY
SERVICE
Phone Main 1
P. O. Box 558
WHEN YOU ELECT EDGAR BIBB
As a School Board member Tuesday, April 7
You are voting for efforts toward obtaining
These Improvements:
1. A more extensive hot lunch
program.
2. A physical education program
for all grades.
3. Strengthen school’s scientific
programs so our youth will
be better qualified for the
Atomic Age.
DO YOUR DUTY — ELECT EDGAR BIBB
EDGAR BIBB
Nenana Set For Weeks
Of Annual Spring Vigil
For River Ice Breakup
By DAN KETZLER
Special to the Nome Nugget
NENANA—From Barter Island
to Kodiak, Ketchikan to Nome,
residents will have barely finished
their many devious ways of find
ing the exact minute that the ice
will move at Nenana.
[ In a few days the town of Ne
! nana will be«ome a beehive of
[ activity. This will be the begin
ning of a feverish two or three
weeks of work counting, posting
and recording guesses of the old
timers and the cheechakos. The
result will be a thick book which
shows the many thousands of
entries in this annual classic.
Most of these guesses will be
wrong, many will be right to the
minute.
After the tickets are compiled
into book form, copies are shipped
to the various towns and cities;
then Nenana will begin a vigil
over the tripod. The ice has moved
as early as April 20, and as late
as May 16.
A Rube Goldberg device records
the exact hour and the minute that
the ice moves. The device con
sists of a special clock located in
a guard house on the river bank.
This is hooked by a wire to a
tripod which is anchored to the
ice in the middle of the river.
When the ice moves, the wires
stop the clock and another win
ner, or winners, is announced to
the citizens of the north.
Galena Will Be First To
Sail North In Season
SEATTLE, Oft — The first Alas
ka Steamship Co. vessel to go
north of the Alaska Peninsula this
y^ar will be the Galena, sailing
from Seattle May 22 for Good
news Bay and Bethel.
The Galena will sail again
August 24 for the same ports.
Three sailings have been sched
uled to Bristol Bay despite the
closure of that area to commer
cial fishing.
The Coastal Rambler will make
all three trips to Bristol Bay,
leaving Seattle May 28, July 9
and August 20. Naknek and Nush
agak calls will be made on each
voyage. Port Moller will be added
on the first.
The Nenana will make three
voyages to the Bering Sea, leav
ing Seattle June 2, July 9 and
September 17. Nome and St. Mi
chael are calls on each trip. The
ship also will go to Unalakleet on
the June 2 voyage and to Teller
and Kotzebue on the July 9 trip.
CERTIFICATION
OF CANDIDATES
I hereby certify that the fol
lowing named candidates have
been regularly, nominated for the
following offices for the Annual
Municipal and School Board Elec
tion to be held Tuesday, April 7,
1959, in accordance with State
Law. to wit:
For Mayor:
STEFFEN ANDERSEN
For City Council (1-Year term):
EVERETT BACHELDER
AXEL T. EDMAN
VERNA H. MICKELSON
(2-Year term):
JACK BLATTLER
CHARLES R. CASPERSON
FRED CAVOTA
ALLAN G. DOYLE
CLINTON GRAY
KEITH HEDREEN
GORDON OSBORNE
For City Clesk:
ROBERT F. SCOTT
For Member School Board (5-Year
turn):
EDGAR F. BIBB
ASHBY E. CRAFT
For Member Utility Board (5
Year term):
LESTER R. KELLER
E. G. STRAUB
(SEAL)
ROBERT F. SCOTT.
City Clerk.
Publish April 3, 6, 1959.
Air Force Colonel i
Censored For
‘Bumping’ C.I.’s
TOKYO, rn — The U. S. Air
Force today cleared a lieutenant
colonel of charges he bumped, six
homeward-bound enlisted men
from a transport plane so he and
his family could fly to Hawaii
for a vacation.
But an Air Force investigating
board said the officer, Lt. Col.
Charles Platt Jr., of Brooklyn,
N. Y., “toy his action contributed
to the confusion” which caused
“administrative error” that was
blamed for the bumping.
The Air Force did not say spe
cifically what had happened but
implied that subordinates handling
the flight became flustered by the
presence of Platt — their com
manding officer — and dropped
the waiting GIs from the pas
senger list.
As it turned out, the investi
gators said, there were eight va
cant seats on the plane all the
time; if the snafu hadn’t hap
pened, the servicemen, the colo
nel and his family all could have
gone.
The board said it had turned
its findings over to “appropriate
commanders to determine whether
or not disciplinary action is re
quired.”
The enlisted men were all on
emergency leave because of death
or illness to close relatives. The
plane took off without them from
Tachikawa Air Base, just outside
Tokyo, on March 26.
Lt. Gen. Robert W. Burns,
commander of American forces in
Japan, personally ordered the air
craft to turn back after one of
the outraged servicemen called
him and complained that Platt,
the passenger terminal command
er at Tachikawa, and his vacation
ing family had taken their seats.
When the plane returned, the
colonel, his wife and four chil
dren were taken off. The soldiers
got on and completed their jour
neys to the United States.
"4-on" Duplicate Receipt Book*
available at The Home Huggei
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| Call BLACK 65 For j
I Arctic Sanitary |
Service
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Trail Blazers Races Set
For Next Week at Tanana
Tanana has announced its an
nual Athabascan Trail Blazers
Trophy Races for April 8, 9, 10
and 11.
In addition to the championship
dog race, of 20 miles each day, •
there will be snowshoe races for
the ladies and snowshoe races for
the children.
There is a dance scheduled fur
each evening of the four-day fes
tival with live music.
Unusual events are the Sleeping
Bag Race, Good Leader Race, and
Old Man’s Race.
ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL
Catherine EzekemeuW, Myra
Reilly.
Discharged — Rose Johnson and
infant, James Dexter, Elizabeth
Kavirlook, Louis Chasse, R. De
Long, Lucille Kugzruk, Don
Grinsell, Sara Warneke, Ruth'
Dexter.
To Kotzebue — Johnny Iya>
pana Jr.
Every so often someone tette
us that Prince of Wales Island is
the largest island under the Amer
ican flag. Actually, Kodiak Island'
is 28 per cent larger. It has 3,58®
square miles, as compared tp
Prince of Wales’ 2,800.
Letter-cize and legal file iolders
at The Nugget
~~ ZIZIm
NO IFS . . .
ANDS . . .
... or BUTS
VOTE
At The
City Election
On Tuesday, April 1
— 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. —■
...And...
While You’re There
Cast A Vote For
Clint Gray
For City Councilman r
For the 2-Year Term
Paul Adut.
— ..m
INTERNATIONAL
PARTS
PICKUPS TRUCKS
_BEN YOUNG_
VOTE...
JACK BLATTLER
lor COUNCILMAN
%
“IF ELECTED ... I Promise
To Perform My Duties For The
Best Interests of The People”
[xj Jack blattler
(For 2-Year Term)
Fuat Ada.