“Strict Interpretation of the Laws
Of the Alaska Fisheries”
Washington, D. C.
May 14 ,1949
Hon. Henry O’Malley,
U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries,
Washington, D, C.
Dear Sir:—
Your letter of April 22nd, 1929,
informing me that eh urges pre
ferred toy residents of Fa'xutut
against Harry I’rydo, F i s h
Warden of that district had
been investigated toy Ageni
Winn and It is Winn's com Ia
si on that the charges against
Mr. Pryde are wholly unfounded
and that lie has performed his
duties as warden in a proper
and ehicient manner" and that
you ‘‘concur i.i Hi is cone.union'
is before me.
Tile Charges
The ciiargrs v;ere ii) iho ci
fc et. that Warden Pryde exer
cises his authority as iish ward
en in an autocratic and over
bearing manner and that .he
discriminates against local re
sidents of Yakutat. both while
and native, and in favor of the
great commercial fishing com
pany located there, and that he
has at all times exhibited a
domineering attitude toward lo
cal residents and a subservient
and servile attitude to the man
agement of the fishing corpora
tion.
The Facts
Inasmuch as you concur in the
report of Mr. Winn on this case,
I deem it my duty to call your
attention to what appear to me
to be the facts in the Yakutat
incident, and therefore I take
direct issue with you and Mr.
Winn regarding the facts upon
which your conclusion is based,
and I must certainly take ex
ception at this time to the
statement of Mr. Winn regard
X
iii;.1; t interpretation oi' the
law.” Tills phrase, “strict inter
pretation oJ' the lav/” is made
use oi so much by you and your
subordinates in the Bureau,
both orally and by letter, in de
fence oi your organization’s
policies and the autocratic, ac
tion of under-officials, such as
Warden Pryde, when complaint
is made by injured residents of
the fishing sections, that I be
lieve it well for me to call your
attention to the fact that if
your organization observed the
laws in letter and spirit, as well
as the fishing population of
Alaska, including Yakutat, ob
serve them there would be
much less discontent among the
local people and much less con
demns i ion of the Fisheries Bu
reau.
I maintain that the provi
:• ioI is laid down in the Ac ts of
j 106 and 1924 are not now and
never have been "Strictly in
terpreted” by your Bureau, and
shat the particular delinquency
of the Bureau in this respect has
been right at Yakutat Bay. The
policy of Warden Pryde lias
been to “strictly interpret” the
working of his own mind and
not the law of fisheries in show
ing favors to the cannery man
agement and hounding the local
residents to the extent of for
bidding them to take fish for
domestic use from waters where
they have always been accus
tomed to take them, and it was
this action on the part of Mr.
Pryde, aided by his assistant in
autocracy, one Mike Karussos,
that started this recent Yaku
tat controversy and not as to
what constituted the mouth of
Ankow Creek, as claimed by Mr.
Winn. I hold that Mr. Winn is
entirely wrong in that assump
tion. The controversy arose ov
er ‘ strict interpretation cf the
provision ol' the law” which
you have quoted in full in your
letter:
“Sec. 4. That it shall be un
lawful to fish for, take, or kill
any salmon of any species or by
any means cxeept by hand rod,
spear, or gaff in any of the
creeks, streams, or rivers of
Alaska; or within five hundred
yards of the mouth of any such
creek, stream, or river over
which the United States has
jurisdiction, excepting the Kar
Iuk and Ugashik Rivers; Pro
vided. That nothing contained
herein shall prevent the taking
of fish for local food require
ments.”
Here is the true history of the
case, the facts of which I have
confirmed by much correspond
ence with residents of Yakutat.
In the fall of 1927 two white
men, Jens Hansen and Walter
Thayer, who reside with their
families at Yakutat, took from
Ankow Inlet (an area closed to
commercial fishing) 62 salmon
for domestic use which they
salted for winter. They did this
as they believed, in strict com
pliance with the law, but were
afterwards apprehended by
Warden Pryde. The sworn state
ment of Hansen and Thayer de
scribes the incident as follows:
“In the fall of 1927, on a cer
tain date we took a small gill
net and went into the Ankow
Inlet to fish for food win
ter’s use—the people of Yaku
tat always have taken their
food fish from this place—it
now being closed to commercial
fishing. We informed the watch
man we wanted a little fish for