examples and show you many ex
amples of discrimination, un
fairness and tyranny that was
not contemplated by the Con
gress that gave O’Malley unlim
ited power. One example will
suffice. Many times his ward
ens in following out their in
structions have arrested seine
boats on suspicion and under
threat that the boat would be
confiscated the owner would con
sent to pay a fine of about $400
and enter a plea of guilty to un
lawful fishing. Such was the
Peer Gynt case, the Kotor case,
the Vivian June case, the Du
brovnik, the Veribus and Ovcr
the-Top cases, and many others
wherein the crews were absolute
ly innocent. But who would not
pay a fine of $400, when to stand
on a plea of “not guilty” would
mean the loss of the entire fish
ing season for that year since
an admiralty action would entail
;ust that? Then when Mr. Suth
erland introduced a bill in Con
gress to require the Bureau of
Fisheries to obtain a verdict of
guilty against the crew BEFORE
proceeding against the vessel,
Mr. O’Malley told Mr. Sutherland
that he, Mr. O’Malley would
fight the bill. We have good pre
cedent for asking for this bill
aside from our proof of the abuse
of the present law, namely, that
it is the practice in the Prohibi
tion cases. If the Bureau would
proceed against the individuals
first, these men would stand
prompt trial in the justice court,
and of course, the innocent
would be freed, to the detriment
of the many “convictions” now
gracing the record of vigilant
fish wardens
But let us move to the funda
mentals of fishery legislation on
which I have said Henry O’Mal
ley is wrong-.
The problem is not correctly
stated by Mr. O’Malley.
He says his job is to conserve
the fisheries.
We insist that the problem of
statesmen is to conserve nsn and
people.
But going to the matter of his
fundamentals, what are they?
They consist of (1st) the closed
season; (2) permanent closed
areas; (3) spacing of fish traps
of one mile and one and one
half miles; (4) curtailment of
seines, gill-nets and trolls.
As to the first, I antedated ev
en Dr. C. H. Gilbert in saying
that “if you breed late fish, you
will get late fish.” Experts may
have no respect for my learn
ing or experience, but I am proud
to say that I made this state
ment even before Dr. Gilbert’s
statement of October, 1923 in
the Pacific Fisherman. In that
issue Dr. Gilbert presented the
very same reasons that I had
although I am willing to grant
.hat undoubtedly he had not
heard of my utterances before
the Alaska legislature of 1923
(March and April) when I op
posed the closed season vigor
ously.
The facts now bear me out,
that 1 was right.
Mr. O'Malley admitted to me
that he did not have full confi
fidence in that system and that
perhaps I was right. I am right.
Whereas we formerly fished as
early as June 15th, today nobody
complains when fishing is pro
hibited until July 10th. Indeed,
the Natives in their late conven
tion recommended that fishing
be closed until August 1st of each
year in Southeastern Alaska.
This consequence of the seasonal
method of conserving fish is so
well recognized here now that I
will not go into more proof. It
will astonish you (that is, if you
know as much about our fishing
conditions as you claim in your
articles) to learn that BRIGHT
pink salmon were running on the
West Coast of Prince of Wales
Island as late as October 1st of
last year—an unheard of occur
ence.
As to the fall closing, I cannot
go into that at this time except
to say that I can easily prove to
any experienced canneryman
that protection afforded the fall
run of salmon is futile. At first
this sounds impossible, but really
to men who are acquainted with
FACTS, the proof is easy.
(2) Permanent closed areas.
This device is on the theory that
when the fish get past all the
fish traps, they should be allow
ed to play around the streams
and go up in peace.
But I ask you, is the result just
to us residents?
I fished in Salmon Bay and
with other crews therein, never
exceeding five of late. We aver
aged 2,000 sockeye per season, so
that our total would be 10,000.
About one mile down the chan
nel from us, the famous Pt. Col
poys fish trap would catch up
wards of 300,000 red salmon per
season. I ask you this, why
should I be compelled to give up
my little 2000, or all of us give
up our 10,000 salmon and no bur
den at all placed on that big
trap which was so efficient that
now nobody fishes at Salmon
Bay. Mr. O’Malley still allows
the Pt. Colpoys trap to fish
while Salmon Bay is closed.
I would here call your atten
tion to the fact that the fishery
..
TOURISTS CAN GET
Totems, Moccasins, Spoons
Alaska Curios and
Momentos at
SKAGWAY DRUG COMPANY
Skagway - - Alaska
lllllllllllllllllllllllliilillllllW
Sanitary Market
CHAS. A. GREENAA
MEAT MARKET
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
Petersburg, - - Alrska