WRANGELL PROTESTS
CLOSED SEASON
A a public meeting in Wrangell
the latter part of last July, cannery
men and fishermen of that district
including the north Prince of Wales
Island district, met to consider the
“closed season’ ’on fishing as it ap
plied to them. Under the orders
of the Bureau of Fisheries, fishing
was prohibited in that district on
August 20th to continue twenty
days.
At the mass meeting called by
the Wrangell Commercial Club, a
committee was appointed to inter
cede with Henry O’Malley, Fish
Commissioner. This committee,
Capt. J. J. Reynolds, for the can
nerymen, C. W. Russell, for the
business men, and Jorgen Ronning,
for the fishermen went to Juneau
and found that Mr. O’Malley was
away to the westward.
The committee, however, present
ed their case to Governor Scott C.
Bone. The proposition of the Wran
gell Committee at that time was
simply to delay for five days the
operation of the closing act as it
applied to the Wrangell district.
Their argument was that the sal
mon comes up either Clarence
Straits or Sumner Straits and then
to the Stikine River. Since this
is true, they say, Wrangell is en
titled to a date at least as late as
the west coast Prince of Wales is
land district where the closing peri
od begins August 25th.
The evidence of the committee was
the record of the tagged fish re
1 Based by the Bureau of Fisheries.
The salmon released on West Coast
were caught in the Wrangell district
from 5 to 12 days after they were
tagged ard releasd. The distance
is approxicatelv 75 miles.
Other evidence was the experience
of the fishermen in this district; for
example it was shown that the
humpback does not run in the north
Prince of Wales Island district, as
in Whale Passage, until August
5th or 10th, and to shut down fish
ing just when the fish are begin
ning to lun is foolish for the re
sult is not to conserve salmon. The
experence of practical men is that
when too many fish escape into the
streams, there is a waste of the
spawn due to the fact that suc
ceding thousands of salmon, having
no place to spawn are compelled
to spawn in the identical place al
i eady occupied. In that way the
salmon will dig up and the cur
rent will wash down the first laid
spawn to be eaten by the thousands
of sea-gulls that sit and feed at
the mouth of the stream.
The request of the Wrangell Com
mittee was denied by Mr. Henry
O’Malley with little courtesy. He
said that the data offered by the
Wrangell Committee was not con
clusive, and the very fact that there
was no salmon in their district was
proof to him that the closing’ date
should be greatly extended.
The text of the Wrangell Resolu
tion is given below. But right here,
1 should point out the mistake of
that committee. That ocmmittee
was not acting on their own exper
ience. In asking for a delay of
the closed season, they were sanc
t:oning the principle of the closed
season as an effective and proper
manner of conserving salmon; when
as a matter of fact they should
have examined into the soundness
of the closed season itself and de
cided whether or not the system was
correct. Why a closed season ?
At a later meeting of the fisher
men and cannerymen of the same
district, this subject was inquired
into and it was unanimously agreed
that the closed season method of
conserving salmon was wrong. This
eonilusion was based upon the ex
perience of men who have been in
the business a life time.
I he fallacy of Mr. O’Malley’s posi
tion lay in his answer to the Wran
gell delegation, towit—that the facts
; ubmitted by them were not conclu
-ive, and their statement of the
scarcity of salmon indicated the ex
pediency of a grater period closed
to fishing. In the first place, Mr.
O’Malley says that the facts sub
mitted were not conclusive. But
Mr. O’Malley established the closed
season for Alaska without a single
bit of data of his own, or from the
Bureau of Fisheries, or from the
Territorial Fish Commission. He
merely adopted the law of Alaska
passed at the request of J. R. Heck
man, vice-chairman of the Terri
torial Fish Commission. Mr. Heck
man’s recommendation was endorsed
by that Commission, but without anv
investigation whatever and merely
on the say so of that man. Being
the only man on the commission
who knows the difference between
a humpback and a bull head, Mr.
Heckman’s statements or announce
ment of principles are always adopt
ed u: animously by that commission.
Exactly as Mr. Calvin Hazlett once
said to me, “Heckman knows enough
for us all. Why should we have
anybody else on the commission?”
Text of the Resolution:
The resolution adopted unanimous
ly by it said:
“Whereas, Regulations were pro
mulgated by the Department of
Commerce as set forth in Section
X of Department Circular No. 251,
under Laws and Regulations for the
Protection of Fisheries of Alaska,
dated June 21, 1914, closing the
waters within this district from
August 20, to September 9, and
“Whereas, In reviewing the statis
tics of previous years, and par
ticularly this year, we find that the
date of closing as named for the
Wrangell district will not permit of
sufficient fish being taken by any
form of gear to enable the canneries
to put up half their normal pack,
for which preparation had already
been made previous to the date on
which Circular No. 251 was promul
gated.
“In an effort to determine the
course of migration of salmon enter
ing this district, the Bureau of Fish
eries carried on extensive operations
by tagging salmon at Point Ruins on
the west coast of Prince of Wales
Island during the month of July.
It may be stated here that a consid
erable number of these tagged sal
mon have been taken in this district
from five to 12 days after being
tagged at the above named point,
and coming a distance of approxi
mately 75 miles.
“Therefore, be it resolved, That
in view of the unusually light catch
of fish to date together with the
facts set forth showing conclusively
that the salmon enter this district
later than on the west coast of
Prince of Wales Island, we feel that
we are fully justified in earnestly
requesting that the closing date
which applies on the west coast of
Prince of Wales Island namely
August 25.
“We are heartily in accord with
the Department of Commerce in its
efforts to conserve the salmon of
Alaska, and in making this request
e are sure we are not asking for
anything that is in the least incon
sistent with the Department’s con
servation policy.”
WEST C04ST CLOSED:
TROLLING PERMITTED
The new order closing' the west
coast of Prince of Wales Island to
commercial fishing reads in part as
follows: “Commercial fishing for sal
mon, except by trolling, is prohibited
within the waters of the west coast
of Prince of Wales Island from Point
Baker to Cape Chacon, including
the waters of adjacent islands, from
midnight of September 14, to mil
n;ght of October 31, 1924.
The former closing order speci
fied the following dates: August
25th to September 14th. At first,
it was understood that trolling was
also prohibited, but we now see the
closing order does not apply to
t rollers.
Paternal Style.—“Now, my little
man,” said the barber to the young
ster in the barber’s chair, “how do
you want your hair cut?”
“With a hole in the top, like
dad’s,” wjfs the reply.—Pittsburgh
Sun.
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