ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1&24 95 



victed of violation of that provision of the statute regarding the 

 method of adjusting traps during the closed period, which in his 

 judgment clearly meant that the heart walls on each side next to 

 the pot must be raised or lowered for the full width of 25 feet specified 

 in the law, and that a V-shaped opening that lessened this width at 

 all stages of the tide was unlawful. For a number of years the bureau 

 had felt that the law was complied with in spirit by the common 

 practice of using '' shove-downs" in the heart walls during the weekly 

 closed period, thus making a V-shaped opening which, while not the 

 full width of 25 feet at lower stages of the tide, nevertheless afforded 

 an opening for the escape or free passage of all fish. 



The act of June 6, 1924, reenacted the provision in regard to ad- 

 justment of salmon traps during the weekly closed period, using the 

 exact language of the previous act of June 26, 1906. Following the 



gassage of the new act, and in view of the court's interpretation, the 

 ureau, under date of June 9, 1924, issued instructions to employees 

 concerned, which, after referring to the provisions of law and the 

 ruling of the court, contained in part the following: 



In view of the foregoing decision, based upon a provision of law identical in 

 language with that of the present law of June 6, 1924, and the announcement in 

 October, 1923, by the judge of the District Court for the First Judicial Division of 

 Alaska that the law would be enforced as construed by the courts and not as 

 construed by any other agency, and that thereafter all persons convicted of 

 violating the fisheries laws would be given substantial fines and possibly jail 

 sentences, you are instructed to take proper legal action in all cases where the heart 

 walls of traps are not opened in accordance with the law as above cited. 



You are instructed that if after the beginning of the fishing season any trap 

 visited and inspected by j'^ou during any closed period is equipped with ineffective 

 tunnel-closing or heart-wall-opening appliances, thus preventing the adjustment 

 of the trap as required by law, you will forthwith give notice of your findings, in 

 writing, to the owner or operator and trap watchman. If the findings of your 

 examination are such as to satisfy you that the faulty adjustment of the trap is 

 due to the neglect, carelessness, or indifference of the watchman, you will in- 

 stitute a prosecution at the earliest opportunity, or as the United States attorney 

 may direct. Palpable, deliberate, and inexcusable violations of the law and 

 regulations are to be vigorously prosecuted. 



You are hereby directed to expedite the prosecution of all actions brought 

 before the courts of Alaska for infractions of the fishery laws and regulations by 

 trap owners, operators, or fishermen. 



Trap owners and operators should be given to understand that the bureau, 

 through its representatives in Alaska, will insist on strict compliance with the 

 laws and regulations, and that it expects their hearty cooperation in such matters. 



The bureau at once gave wide publicity to this announcement, 

 and vigorous protests were received from a number of operators, 

 some of whom already had traps set and fishing. The complaint was 

 chiefly that it was impossible to comply with the law as thus construed 

 and that the only way they could escape being prosecuted for viola- 

 tion of law would be to discontinue operations altogether. Others 

 felt that it would be impossible to make the necessary chano-es in 

 traps already constructed in time to operate them profitably during 

 the fishing season. A general feeling of dissatisfaction pervaded the 

 district and was manifested in a suit, to which some 30 operators of 

 traps were party, to restrain the officers of the Government directly 

 concerned in the enforcement of the act of June 6, 1924. 



This case, entitled "P. E. Harris & Co., a corporation, suing on its 

 own behalf and on behalf of others similarly situated, v. Henry 

 O'Malley, individually and as Commissioner of Fisheries; E. M. 



53896— 25t 3 



