the war, has been on a scale to
direct attention to it as a social
problem. Back in 1900 the num
ber of persons engaged in both
the primary and secondary op
erations of the industry in the
province wos 31,659; it declin
slowly to 2C,673 in 1910; then
increased to 29,364 in 1913. Dur
ing the war the number varied
from 26,500 to 29,500. By 1924
it had dropped to 19,870 and has
been close to that figure every
year since, being 19,823 in 1929.
The decrease since the second
year of the war has been over
30 per cent.
Novia Scotia’s experience in
this respect is not peculiar. The
fishing industry of Canada as a
whole tells a similar story, de
spite the expansion of the fish
eries on the Pacific Coast and on
the lakes of the prairie provinc
es. The total of persons engag
ed in the Dominion fisheries in
1915 was 102,182, as compared
with 78,219 in 1918., a decrease
of about 23 per cent.
In England and Wales, altho
concentration and mechaniza
tion characterized the industry
long before the war, the number
of fishermen employed has also
declined though at a lesser rate
man in Canada. English and
Welsh fishermen in 1913 num
bered 45.382 including about 8,
000 irregularly employed. In
1920 the number was 41,117
while in 1928 it had fallen to 34,
042. including about 4,000 irre
gularly employed.
In Scotland the number of
fishermen in 1928 was 25,043.
The decline there has been
slower, due to the tenacity of the
boat fishermen irregularly em
ployed.—Canadian Fisherman.
-x
Human sympathy alone will
prevent dogmatism from becom
ing puppyism.
-x
To cure your mopes—Jake a
large dose of hope.
Salmon Packers Admit Traps Most
Expensive to Operate
The following editorial is tak
en from the Juneau Empire and
is an admission that the use of
traps for catching salmon is
the most expensive method and
belies earlier statements by the
operators, canners and their or
gan the Empire thai it was the
“most efficient and cheapest”
method of taking salmon.
The article is also an admis
sion that the fishery industry is
n**t troubled so much with “un
der consumption” of salmon as
“over production” of that com
modity and that the promiscu
ous canning of this fish despite
market conditions has produced
a situation that has sent most
of the operators to the financial
wall and the stronger corpora
tion to retrench in their opera
tions.
Henry O’Malley’s recent orders
curtailing trap operation in
Alaska by cutting out 58 out of
more than 700 is also an admis
sion that the trap system unless
drastically curtailed will forcibly
reduce all canning operations
in spite of the packers. His reali
zation of this fact, preached by
The Alaska Fisherman, The
Alaskan and the Alaska Native
Brotherhood for several years,
is evidenced by the fact that
he left the packers no choice in
the matter of curtailment.
The editor of this publication
sincerely hopes that this cur
tailment is not just an idle ges
ture—elimination of dummy
traps by corporations using such
methods to eliminate competi
tion from their better producing
traps. In a matter of a short
time, the canners themselves
will be willing to curtail their
operations of traps—that is a
foregone conclusion.
Packers Admit Trap System Im
practical Because of
High Cost
The following article is taken
from the Juneau Empire, Terri
torial mouthpiece of the canners
and one of the plunderbund
which has controlled in a pro
fessional way the political and
economic destines of Alaskans.
Packers Plan Reduced
Operations
The report from Ketchikan
that three of the larger salmon
packing corporations in South
east Alaska will each operate
three less plants this year than
usual seems to be in line with
the declared intention of the
canners in this district to reduce
operating costs next season and
cut down the pack. A meeting
was held recently in Seattle,
largely attended by cannery op
erators, at which several pro
blems were discussed and em
phasis wras placed on the neces
sity for effecting substantial
economies, the importance of
paying more attention to the
marketing end and concentrat
ing less on the production end
of the industry.
Pinks and chums, of which
the pack cf Southeast Alaska is
mainly composed, are selling at
present below the cost of pro
duction, by the unanimous ad
mission of all canners attending
the meeting. They agreed, also,
that there must be a material
cmt.voptVn r- operations as a
result of this situation, the re
duction to be made either now
or later. The packers, apparent
ly, realize that the longer this
disagreeable task is postponed
the more difficult it will be, and
seem to have arranged a pro
gram to make it now. The Seat
tle meeting also studied ways
and means of eliminating up