ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES I89 
Twenty stake-net fishermen and 10 operators of gill-net boats were 
arrested for illegal fishing in the Bristol Bay area. The stake-net 
fishermen, charged with fishing in the Nushagak area during a weekly 
closed period and with setting nets less than the required distance 
interval apart, were tried before the United States Commissioner at 
Nushagak; all pleaded guilty and were assessed fines ranging from $5 
to $46.25, the total amounting to $271.60. Cases against the oper- 
ators of the gill-net boats were tried before the Commissioner’s court 
at Naknek. Fines of $35 each were assessed against the six operators 
of three boats belonging to the Alaska Packers Association which 
fished during a closed period in the Ugashik district; $50 each against 
two operators of the Red Salmon Canning Co.’s boat No. 40 for lay- 
ing a net too close to other gear in the Naknek district; and $100 
each against two operators of the Red Salmon Canning Co.’s boat 
No. 7 for fishing during a weekly closed period in the Naknek district. 
From the last-named boat, 1,635 salmon were confiscated; they were 
sold for $204.79, and the proceeds were turned over to the Department 
of Justice. 
SETTLEMENT OF CLAIM OF WALES ISLAND PACKING CO. 
An act of May 5, 1936, authorized payment of $100,000 to the 
Wales Island Packing Co., in full settlement of its claim against the 
Government of the United States for injuries to its business and prop- 
erty on Wales Island, in Portland Inlet, on account of the decision of 
the Alaska boundary tribunal in 1903, under which possession of said 
island passed from the United States to the Dominion of Canada. 
As agreed upon in the treaty of March 3, 1903, between the United 
States and Great Britain, the decision of the tribunal regarding the 
boundary line rested solely upon the interpretation of the description 
of the boundary in the Russian-British treaty of 1825, irrespective of 
any rights and claims which the United States held subsequently in 
the disputed territory. 
The Wales Island Packing Co. had established a salmon cannery 
on Wales Island and had operated it only two seasons when the 
change in boundary deprived it of advantages it had enjoyed as an 
American firm with respect to fishing in Alaska waters and selling its 
products in American markets. As a result of these hindrances to its 
profitable operation, the plant was idle for a number of years and was 
finally sold to a Canadian firm for a small fraction of its original cost. 
The settlement of the company’s claim against the Government for 
compensation for the losses sustained closes a case that has been 
pending since 1904. 
TERRITORIAL LICENSE TAX 
Fisheries license taxes were collected by the Territory under the 
general revenue law of 1921, as amended in subsequent sessions of 
the Territorial Legislature. A statement from Oscar G. Olson, Terri- 
torial treasurer, under date of April 29, 1937, gives the collections 
made to that date for the year 1936, representing the taxes on opera- 
tions of the previous year. It was stated that collections under the 
several schedules were fairly complete, although a few of the fisheries 
companies had not yet made full settlement. The outstanding salmon 
pack taxes amounted to approximately $12,000. 
