lions are increasing due to the
fact that the British Columbia
Government is warring on these
animals, equipping patrol boats
with machine guns and battling
the animals at their very rook
eries, killing many and driving
others to our waters where the
United States government pro
tects them. It seems to us re
prehensible that this condition
could exist, destroying as it does
hundreds of thousands of pounds
of king salmon without getting
even a protest from the Bureau
of Fisheries. There is no closed
fishing season for these thou
sands of animals during Janu
ary, February and March. And
yet, consider how many salmon
these seals must have each day
to maintain their tonnage. We
could go on.
We are appealing to you for
fair play because you are cur
government. O u r government
has no right to hurt us needless
ly. In good faith, we have cri
ticised your closing order call
ing your attention to the fact a
trolling year even now consists
of only 167 eight hour days, and
to the further fact that the fish
ing in April would wipe out
whatever advantage you might
gain the first three months; we
have proposed a substitute, and
now advise you of the menace of
the sea-lions which destroy more
salmon than are caught by our
entire fleet.
Respectfully,
President
Alaska Trollers’ Association
Eric X. Johnson,
ALASKA JUNEAU’S PROFIT
-o
Against a deficit of $151,788 in
1927, the Alaska Juneau .Gold
Mining Company’s 1928 state
ment showed a net profit of $781,
ioe.
. .A little exaggeration in praise
or kind words is no lie.—Alva
Adams.
Are Hatcheries Worth
• While?
iiearing Adult Fish
The official output from tne
Ontario hatcheries was 714,128,
200 fry and fingerlings for the
year 1927. The output from
other hatcheries of the Domini
on (including Quebec for 1927
was 10,000,000) was 305,283,782.
If these fry and fingerlings all
grew to maturity, there would
be roughly speaking 238 adult
fish for each man, woman and
child in Ontario, and about 43
adults for each man, woman and
child in the rest of the Dominion.
The difficulty, however, is to
know how many of these fry and
fingerlings grow to maturity.
“Gratifying reports” the Domin
ion Fisheries Department says,
“regarding the results that are
apparent from the distribution
of hatchery products continued
to come in from all districts
where fish cuv ,ural operations
are carried on in a systematic
way.“
Similar reports have been
coming in to the Department of
Fisheries in Ottawa for over fif
ty years, but when investigated
there is little or no evidence to
support them. They usually
originate from hatchery em
loyees who are anxious to make
the public believe that the sup
ply of fish depends mainly upon
the hatcheries, when it probab
ly depends almost entirely upon
the natural breeding of native
fish. But at any rate whether
the supply depends upon hatch
eries or upon unaided natural
propogation the Fisheries De
partment at Ottawa and Toronto
have shown no disposition to
submit the question to the test
of experiment or to investigate
it by a competent committee.
Hatcheries Not Keeping Up
Supply on Fraser River
One thing is certain. On the
Pacinc Coast in 1922, the British
Columbia Fisheries Commission
could find no evidence amongst
the Fraser River fishermen that
the hatcheries v/ere keeping up
the supply of sockeye salmon.
Nor did the Commission see any
evidence that the hatchery staffs
or fishery overseers possessed
any adequate knowledge of
science by which they might be
aided in rearing fry and finger
lings to adults. No man knows
how many fry and fingerlings
grow to maturity from a known
number of hatchery fry. There
have been guesses but few reli
able counts.
Perhaps the best evidence as
to the failure of hatcheries is
furnished by the biological Board
of Canada in the following reso
lution: “The Board finds that
there is at the present time in
sufficient to enable it to state
that the present fish cultural
work of the Department is or is
not justified by economic re
sults.” Pased Dec. 30, 1924.
This is the unanimous conclu
sion of a body of twreive business
and university men who repre
sent today the highest authority
on fish culture in Canada.
As previously stated the out
put of the Ontario hatcheries for
1927 was 714,128,200; the output
of the Dominion hatcheries was
305,283,782; a grand total of 1,
019,411,982. The hatchery staffs
who have turned out this im
immense number of fry and fin
gerlings can certainly not be ac
cused of failure. Failure there
has been in the rearing of fry
and fingerlings into adult fish;
but the failure occurred after
the fry and fingerlings had left
the hands of the hatchery staffs
and were distributed in streams