40 



FISHERY AND FUR INDUSTRIES OF ALASKA IN 1912. 



Salmon Taken in 1912, by Species and Apparatus, for Each Geographic 

 Sectiojn of Alaska — Continued. 



Relation of gear to conservation of the fishery . — The effect upon the 

 fishery of the various devices used in capturing the fish has long been 

 a much-debated question. The recent extension in the use of traps 

 in southeast Alaska has raised another and different question, namely, 

 the employment of labor as affected by the stationary and movable 

 gear, respectively. An examination of the statistics as set forth in 

 the tables given in this report shows that about one-third of the total 

 number of salmon taken in 1912 were taken in traps, when seven years 

 ago less than one-fifth were so taken. It is further revealed that the 

 increase in the use of the trap has been in central and southeastern 

 Alaska only, the percentage having more than doubled in the latter 

 section and almost doubled in the former. It will be further noted 

 that the relation of the trap varies with the species; for the period it 

 s lowest for kings and highest for cohos, but in 1912 highest for pink 

 salmon, of which species more were taken in traps last season than by 

 all other means combined. 



The propriety of the use of any particular fishing device, excluding 

 the labor question, must be determined by the answers to the follow- 

 ing questions: 



1 . Is its operation readily inspected and regulated ? 



2. Does it enable the fish secured to be put on the market in the 

 best possible condition? 



3. Does it result in loss of any portion of tlie fish it is designed to 

 capture ? 



4. Does the appliance cause the loss of, or affect injuriously, any 

 other species or the young of the species caught? 



Salmon fishing, as ordinarily conducted, is peculiar in that only 

 adult fish arc taken by the gear used. It is true that to a slight degree 

 yearling fish may be destroyed sometimes, as for example, in tlie 

 seining on Karhik bcacJi, or occasionally in brailing a trap, but this 

 damage is practicably negligible. 



