Another Fifth Division Piscatorial Scientist Speaks
His Piece
By Louis F. Paul, in The Alaskan
Mr. Jermane, associate editor
of the Seattle Times, sets himself
up as another authority on fish
eries of Alaska, Washington and
Canada, incidentally he hands
to the King of Alaska, Henry
O’Malley, several bouquets which
sound like they were written by
old Hank himself.
A signed article dealing with
the salmon treaty between the
United States and Canada was
the idea which “Jermane-ated”
and fathered the article. Ac
cording to Mr. Jermane, whether
the sockeye fisheries is “to sur
vive or perish is left largely to
the discretion of the cannery
men of Washington.
Copies of the treaty are being
studied by the Cannerymen’s As
sociation cf Washington State
First negotiations for the con
trol of the sockeye fisheries in
the Fraser River Basin, which
Washington Coastal plain, was
begun back in 1908 when the
Canadians first appreciated the
fact that their fisheries were on
a down grade in production.
“Conservation”
Treaty after treaty was pre
pared and presented each gov
ernment for consideration—the
American government never did
succeed in even getting a favor
able report on each treaty from
the Committee on Marine and
Fisheries; the Canadians have
passed every treaty and then had
to rescind its action upon fail
ure of the American govern
ment to accept the treaty.
The present treaty provides for
establishment of an internation
al fisheries commission of six
members, three from the United
rtatc'" and three from Canada.
The commission is granted ex
ex
tensive regulatory powers over
the fisheries in national and ter
ritorial waters and over fishing
for sockeye by American and Ca
nadian fishermen on portions of
the high seas.
. . The commission will make a
thorough investigation into the
history of the sockeye salmon
and it is authorized to construct
and maintain hatcheries. It will
have power to prescribe the size
of the meshes and fishing gear
and appliances that may be used
in the convention waters. The
life of the treaty is sixteen years
after which it is subject to ter
mination on notice of one year
by the government of either
country.
Fact and Fiction
“Ten years ago, it became ap
parent that the salmon fisheries
of the North Pacific were to meet
the same fate as did those of the
Atlantic. In the early history of
this country, the streams of the
Atlantic ocean as far south as
the Susquehanna River teemed
with salmon. The shore lines of
both the ocean and rivers were
dotted with canneries, but in the
course of years the fisheries were
destroyed because the salmon
were unable to propagate.
“Today, there is not a single
salmon cannery on the Atlantic
seaboard though there are three
small streams in which a few
salmon are occasionally caught.
The number is just sufficient to
furnish sport for fly fishermen.
There is not enough to sustain
even the smallest of packing
plants. The salmon fisheries of
Alaska were in a fair way to fol
low the nath of t^c ».
mon when the JonoW'i'e Act
was enacted and President
Hoover, then Secretary of Com
merce, stepped into the picture.
Mr. Hoover, under the Jones
White Act, was given full author
ity to regulate the fisheries of
Alaska and he delegated the job
to Henry O’Malley, United States
Fish Commissioner.
“Mr. O’Malley is red-headed
and his name indicates that he
comes from an obstinate and
self-opinionated race. After in
vestigation of the number of
fish taken over a period of years,
he closed fishing on streams that
showed depletion The cannery
men of Alaska were up in arms
about it, and scores of them
came to Washington to protest
to Secretary Hoover, but Mr.
Hoover stood by Mr. O'Malley,
and when he ordered the streams
closed to fishing, they remained
closed.
“Some of the regulations is
sued by Commissioner O'Malley
were probably very drastic, but
time has proved beyond contro
versy that drastic procedure war;
necessary. He concluded that it
was obvious that the only way
to save the salmon from destruc
tion was to stop killing them dur
ing the spawning season, or at
least to let enough escape to the
spawning ground to furnish a
run two or four years later.
“Demagogues in and out of
Congress made. many charges
against both Mr. Hoover and Mr.
O’Malley, but these officials
stood pat. They took the view
point that their first duty was to
the salmon, and not to the sal
mon packer. The fact that to
day there is not a canneryman
in the whole length and breadth
rf t-h0 jr not an arc it
supporter of the provisions of
the Jones-White Act speaks for