EDITORIAL
THE FISH REGULATIONS FOR 1928. A VINDICATION
OF SUTHERLAND AND WILLIAM L. PAUL.
Henry O’Malley informed the Packers that the re
gulations for 1928 would ELIMINATE FISH TRAPS
FROM ALL BAYS, NARROW CHANNELS AND ESTII
ARIES.
He further states that “This is a policy which
can be defended before any Committee of Congress.“■
In 1921, as a result of the appearance of Charles Fer
guson, Bishop P. T. Rowe and William L. Paul before
the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, the
Committee recommended that
“It shall be unlawful to drive, construct,
set or nsn witn any nxea or noauns trap,
weir, or pound net in ANY BAY, INLET OR
ESTUARY in Alaska, the width of which at
its entrance is three miles or less, or within
any channel or passage connecting
larger bodies of water, where the width of
said channel or passage is three miles or less
* * • •»»
The Bureau of Fisheries then refused to endorse this
bill, and got Acting Secretary of Commerce Huston to
write a letter (on Marcn 14, 1922) opposing ho amend
ment.
We are not repeating this bit. of history for the pur
pose of glorifying ourselves. We make it because, the
above limitation itself was but a compromise. Tn or
der to save the industry, the Bureau of Fisheries will hr
forced to adopt the entire plan advocated in 19 21 by
William L. Paul, Chas. Ferguson and the Hon. Dan
Sutherland, to-wit, THE ABOLISHMENT OF THE FISIl
TRAP.
HENRY O’MALLEY PROMISES TO GIVE
CONSIDERATION TO SMALL SEINERS
Entire Change of Policy Forecast by Letter From
IT. S. Fish Commissioner Henry O’Malley
“Chairmen and gentlemen:
“On November 18, ■shortly after my arrival in Seattle
the committee which was appointed by the Southeasterr
Alaska Packers laid before me the plans which they bar
worked out for curtailing fisheries in Southeastern Alas
ka.
“At the meeting of vour association in September
T expressed the need for curtailing the industry ir
Southeastern Alaska, especially the fishing gear, whict
in the end means the conservation of the industry, if the
salmon industry is to be a going business in the north.
f'l want to thank the committee for their earnesi
effort and for the progress they have made in attempt
ing to solve a difficult situation. The plan which your
committee has suggested, in part, meets with my ap
proval.
TO ELIMINATE TRAPS IN BAYS AND ELSEWHERE
“By this plan it is contemplated to eliminate al!
traps from the heads of bays and close to certaint other
areas. It would appear that the committee has made
a great deal of progress by voluntarily removing the
traps from the upper ends of bays, hut not out of the
outer ends and the narrow estuaries and islands: at the
entrances of channels, known to be frequented by sal
mon. I shall accept, in part, what the packers have
accomplished and shall also go a step farther and ELIM
INATE TRAPS OUT OF ALL BAYS, ESTUARIES AND
NARROW CHANNELS: in fact, this was the recom
mendation which I transmitted to Washington this
morning and it is on this basis that the regulations for
the coming year will be prepared.
“I realize that we may have some people in the In
dustry. either canners, trapmen or individual fisher
men, who will not be satisfied with the suggestions
which T intend to submit to the department. In formu
lating the policy. I have endeavored to build one which
T can adhere to and defend before either the commerce
committee or the merchant marine and fisheries com
mittee in congress.
“T do not feel that the gear of this year is in anyway
■responsible for the poor run of salmon, but with the
rapid growth of traps which has taken place during the
past two years, had there been a good run, I doubt
whether any fish would have reached the spawning
beds during the active fishing season. I know this to
have been true during the past season when we had an
extremely poor run, the cause for which we cannot ac*
count.
“WTTiT; GIVE RMATili SEINERS A FAIR
OPPORTUNITY
"Tliis plan of eliminating: traps out of the above
mentioned areas will give the small individual purse
seiners of Alaska a fair opportunity to make their livli
hood.
OPPOSES NON-RESTOENT SETNERS
"T am opposed to the large seines which have been
sent north in the years past from Puget Sound and
other points and with this in mind I have limited all
seines in southeastern Alaska to between 150
and 200 fathoms in length on the cork line with a
depth of between 175 and 250 meshes, based on three
and one-half inch mesh. Tt may have been the thought
of the industry to overcome its loss of traps by an ex
panded use of purse seines. I want to sound a note of
warning right here on that particular phase. If it Is
attemped, the bureau still has the right to curtail the
season if it is thought that It is necessary to do so for