By the Cordova Fisherman’s
Union.
Regarding the enemies of
Salmon.
The seal is the worst and
principal enemy of the salmon.
The seal is increasing so rap
idly that in a few years if
left alone it will make fishing
impossible. During last season
it is a very conservative esti
mate to say that the seal took
ten fish to each fish taken by
the fishermen. And this taking
into consideration only the
seals that were around the prin
cipal fishing places, not count
ing for the multitudes scat
tered all over the flats, in the
eddies of the slough, and up
river. They are to be found
from outside of the breakers
and in every nook and corner
of the river and have been
observed up as far as Chitina.
Up the sloughs jin the lower
part of the river the receding
tides expose the mudflats in
places where several deep pot
holes, the fish will be piling
down the river, the seals will
be everywhere grabbing them.
They will be seen by the thou
sand. The seals will be seen
plowing through the water and
grabbing a fish and tearing it
to pieces or take it in its mouth
and throwing its head to one
side and half the fish can be
Seen playing in the air, the
Other half spit out, and the
seal going for the next fish.
This is going on night and day.
It is not so much what they
actually eat, as the thousands
they destroy seemingly for
pleasure. Some of the bars and
breeding grounds are literally
alive with seals.
By comparing time and amount
of nets actually standing to
fish it has been ascertained by
several, and by the fish passing
through the canyon, that we had
at least an average good run
of fish last summer. Yet no
fish to speak of were caught
on the bars, the reason for this
being that the bars were over
crowded with nets due to the
fact that it is the only places
where it is at all practicable
to drift, and here the seals
were concentrated picking the
fish as fast as they struck the
nets.
We believe the vast majority
of the fish realizing the suici
dal act of entering under these
circumstances remained outside
until the tide got high enough
and then scattered out and went
in over the. breakers, the break
ers being the natural protection
for the fish from the seal, and
here the fishermen, because of
the snags and slow water and
the fish being scattered had very
little chance of getting any.
Sharpshooters and dynamite
have been tried but with little
or no result. We have no means
of exterminating them, and we
respectfully request the Gov
ernment to find ways and mean
for their extermination, Areo
planes and bombs for instance
might be the proper thing.
The next worst enemy of the
red salmon is the trout which
eat the eggs as the salmon
spawn in the streams and the
lakes. The waters of Eyak Lake
and Mountain Slough are liter
ally alive with these trout, -•
The sea gull is the principal
enemy of the humpback or pink
salmon, also the red salmon. In
almost any creek, and in parti
cular where there is a flat with
water enough to allow the fish
to stay up the sea gull will
be wading amongst the live fish
and picking out the eyes, in
places hundreds of these blind
ed fish may be seen at a time.
Those fish do not spawn. They
will swim around for a few
days and die. At times they
may be seen laying by the
thousands, and furthermore the
sea gulls are gobbling up an
immense lot of spawn. This
could be avoided by the bureau's
providing some means for the
extermination of the sea gull.
The Hoonah Camp of the Al
aska Native Sisterhood receiv
ed five new members recently
and are expecting more in the
near future.
Their new officers for 1926
are as follows; President, Mrs.
Sam Johnson; Vice-president,
Mrs. John Fawcett; Recording
Secretary, Mrs. Leonard Davis;
Corresponding Secretary, Mrs.
George Wallace; Treasurer,
Mrs. Peter Williams; Sergeant
at-arms, Mrs. Ben Metz. School
committee Mrs. Ben Metz and
Mrs. Albert Judson.
The BON MARCHE1
LOUIS HANSON, Proprietor
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KETCHIKAN, ALASKA