22 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1917. 



Tho Bureau of Education expresses the hope that the money 

 which tho natives receive as the result of th-? leas:^ will make it possi- 

 ble for them to purchase the interests of the lessees upon the termi- 

 nation of the five-year period and then to operate the cannery 

 themselves under proper supervision. 



INJURY TO FISHERIES BY BIRDS. 



In 1914 and 1915 E. P. Walker, inspector in the Alaska fisheries 

 service, made some inquiries into the destruction of herring by pred- 

 atory birds, particularly gulls and ducks, and reported that an 

 enormous quantity of herring egj^s was destroyed each season by 

 those birds in the vicinity of Craig and Sitka, where large numbers 

 of herring spawn. As a result of these observations, the Bureau 

 gave careful consideration to the formulation of measures designed 

 to overcome agencies destructive to the herring fishery. In the 

 meantime a convention was made between the IJnited States and 

 Great Britain for the protection of migratory birds in the United 

 States and Canada. This was signed on August 16 and proclaimed 

 December 8, 1916. 



Article I of the treaty designates the migratory birds under three 

 classifications, (1) migratory game birds, (2) migratory insectivorous 

 birds, and (3) other migratory nongame birds, which are the auks, 

 auklets, bitterns, fulmars, gannets, grebes, guillemots, guUs, herons, 

 jaegers, loons, murres, petrels, puffins, shearwaters, and terns. 



Article II prescribes close seasons for these three classes of birds. 

 Section 3 refers particularly to those of the third category indicated 

 above. It says : 



The close season on other migratory nongame birds shall continue throughout the 

 year, except that Eskimos and Indians may take at any season auks, auklets, guille- 

 mots, murres, and puffins, and their eggs, for food and their skins for clothing, but 

 the birds and eggs so taken shall not be sold or offered for sale. 



It thus appears that gulls and terns, which are said to consume 

 large quantities of herring, can not be kiUed lawfully at any time. 



THE COPPER RIVER FISHERY. 



When the fishing season of 1917 opened, it was found that seven 

 canning companies had made preparations to take salmon from the 

 Copper River. It was also learned that there would be a large in- 

 crease in the amount of fishing gear employed, aU of which gave 

 promise of intensive and perhaps exhaustive fishing of those waters. 

 The activities in this locality in 1916 were sufficient to cause some 

 apprehension that serious inroads into the continuing supply of 

 salmon might be made, thus threatening tho existence of a valuable 

 fishery. Special inquiries were therefore made in order to ascertain 

 the facts and real conditions of the fishery, that out of the knowledge 

 thus obtained the needs of the salmon fish(Ty of tho region might be 

 learned and measures adopted to bring about its OTeater protection. 

 Accordingly James H. Lyman, assistant agent in the Alaska service, 

 spent much of the summer of 1917 on the Copper River examining 

 spawning grounds and observing the effect of increased operations 

 upon the escapement of salmon. Dr. Charles H. Gilbert, of Stanford 

 University, California, also made valuable observations in respect 

 to the exhaustion of the fishery. 



