28 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1918. 
ANNETTE ISLAND FISHERY RESERVE. 
On April 28, 1916, a presidential proclamation was made creating 
the Annette Island Fishery Reserve in southeastern Alaska, whereb 
Annette Island and certain smaller islands off its coast, together willl 
the surrounding waters, were set apart for the exclusive benefit of the 
Metlakatla Indians and any other Alaskan natives who might asso- 
ciate themselves and live with them. The Bureau of Education, 
Department of the Interior, has charge of the administrative affairs 
within the reserve. The most valuable asset thus secured to the 
natives is the fishery wealth of the region. To derive the greatest 
benefit therefrom, a plan was adopted to lease fishing privileges in 
the reserve to the company making the most advantageous offer. 
The first lease was made with P. E. Harris & Co., of Seattle, Wash., 
but owing to the loss by fire of its cannery on the island, nothing 
was done 7 that company. A second lease was then made, with the 
Annette Island Packing Co. of Seattle, under the terms of which the 
company was authorized to erect a cannery on Annette Island. It 
was required to pay a permit fee of $100 per annum for each fish 
trap operated in the reserve, to pay a royalty of 1 cent per fish for 
each salmon caught in these waters, and to give a guarantee that 
not less than $6,000 would be paid to the natives annually during 
the five years of the continuance of the lease. 
Six traps were operated in the reserve for which a permit fee of 
$600 was paid. A total of 1,196,669 salmon was taken by these 
appliances, for which the natives received a royalty of $11,966. In 
addition to this return, the natives were paid $12,023 for 196,012 
salmon which they took with purse seines and sold to the packing 
company. ‘The natives thus received as a direct return from the 
fisheries of the reserve a total of $24,589. Over and above this 
amount, further disbursements of several thousand dollars were 
made to them on account of labor in the cannery and during its 
construction. 
YUKON FISHERY. 
When in the spring of 1918 it became generally known by various 
persons residing on the Yukon River and tributary streams that, as 
the result of preliminary arrangements made the previous season by 
the Carlisle Packing Company of Seattle, a salmon cannery was to 
begin operations on the lower Yukon, there arose a protest against 
the establishment of any such enterprise having for its object the 
commercial utilization of salmon from Yukon waters for exportation 
from the Territory. 
As a result of this protest an informal public hearing was held by 
the Bureau at Seattle on May 17, 1918, to receive the views of inter- 
ested person and invite discussion by those favoring the undertaking 
and by those opposing it. It was thought that this conference or 
hearing might develop information useful in determining the best 
method of conducting a practical inquiry into conditions on the 
Yukon. The hearing was participated in by representative cannery- 
men and by a number of ersons, including Bishop P. T. Rowe, 
rominently identified with the general welfare of Alaska and particu- 
arly in respect to the natives. 
Those who opposed the operation of canneries on the Yukon stated 
that both the whites and natives are largely dependent upon salmon 
