These catches cannot be compared with the catch m Norway, with its hundreds of miles of waters to draw
fi om, against only the small inside waters in Southeastern Alaska wnere tile herring come in rrom the outside.
AMOUNT Oi' llAii FUiiMbUkj# lit XilJLi iviiiiiLCliON TLANTb
it would be safe to say that less than 1 °/o of the bait used is furnished by the reduction plants,
in almost all instances the halibut and king salmon lisuenneu were refused when they asked to buy bait,
and also in many cases, the herring, as they were brought into the reduction plants, were nut even ht for bait.
As beloie stated, herring that are full of feed, most be first ponded, and the feed allowed to pass out ot
them before they are lit lor bait or packing for food
WHY ALASKANS WANT UE1UILNG I’liOTECXKI)
If in the earlier years of herring fishing in Southeast Alaska, a law had been in effect that gill nets ot
a suitable size must be used, there would not have been the waste of the smaller herring that the saiteries
could not use.
We who live in Alaska do not look only on our immediate profit, but we want our fish supply to remain
for us, and also for our children, and if conservation is not practiced now, the future revenue and prosperity of
Alaska will not be assured.
SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA HERRING AS FOOD FISH.
Huiiiig the past yetii, wholesalers from ililt.ereut points in the United States, were asking tor carload
lots of Norway cured, Southeastern Alaska Herring, it was impossible to get them, and the wholesalers
were so informed.
Firms who are using loud fish for stock feed mix tries or for fertilizer purposes, will have to turn to
some other mixture, for if conservation is observed, food lisii cannot be used for such purposes.
GROWING SCARCITY OF FISH
We must not overlook ihe fact that other kinds of mud lisii, such as salmon of all kinds and halibut, are
becoming more scarce, and consequently aigher priced every year, and while at present it may be claimeu.
that we have more herring man the market demands for food, it will only be a short time until herring will
be used in greater quantities, providing there are enough of them to make their cost cheap.
f ile wholesale price of good herring this Fall, m barrels of 2uu lb., is from $30.00 to $40.00.
This price, with me added profits of the middleman and the retailers, already brings the price of the
herring very high, and this price will go higher us herring become more scarce.
SMALL HERRING . FOR FOOD
The general talk about the small herring being unfit for food, is owring to the fact, that while herring
are plentiful and cheap, the largest are naturally in Demand, but when the cost of large herring becomes too
high, then the majority of the people will turn to the smaller herring at a lower price, as they are as good
a food fish as the larger size.
WHO MUST RE CONSIDERED WHEN FIGURING THE COST OF FOOD
In considering the conservation of fish oi any food supply and its cost, we must not figure only tho
man with plenty oi money, who does not care whether his food costs him .25 or .75 cents per pound, but
we must think ol the average wage earner, who is 'n the great majority, and whose financial condition
compels him to buy food at a price within his means.
SUPREME COURT DECISIONS IN CALIFORNIA ON PARALLEL CONDITIONS
The decisions of the Supreme Court iu California during the past ten years, in matters pertaining to
the conservation of lish, are parallel with conditions in Southeastern Alaska.
The Supreme Court decisions are that experience has proved that the available supply of food iish in
the water3 of the ocean, if readily accessible to thepacking plants, may be seriously depleted, if not prac
tically exhausted, within a period of a few years, by unrestricted fishing.
The Supreme Courts decisions along that line do not limit themselves to waters only inside the three
mile limit, but also include the vast waters outside the three mile limit, and in no case on any kind of food
fish, is there a permit given any Packing Plant the right to use more than 25% of their catch for reduction
purposes. In most cases it is less.
The Supreme Court has ruled against any plant catching more fish than they can readily handle with
out undue waste.
They have also ruied that the general right and ownership of the fish is in the people of the State,
and the State has the right to regulate and control the taking and disposition thereof, and a3ide from ail