42 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES, 



feasible to conduct fishing operations with various kinds of gear so 

 actively beyond the restricted zone as to offset the effects of the 

 protection afforded the salmon in streams and immediately off' their 

 mouth, and this, in fact, is occurring in various localities. A measure 

 designed to meet this situation and furnish this limited relief pending 

 the enactment of a new general fish law for Alaska is the bill (H. R. 

 2394) which confers on the Secretary of Commerce jurisdiction over 

 the fisheries for a distance of 3 miles off the mouth of any stream in 

 Alaska and authorizes him to prescribe for such area the regulations 

 deemed by him necessary or desirable to perpetuate the salmon sup- 

 ply. The bill, which has received the indorsement of the Depart- 

 ment, has been favorably repoiled by the House Committee on the 

 Merchant INIarine and Fisheries and is now on the calendar. 



The present law has no application to whales, crabs, shrimp, clams, 

 and various other valuable products, and the taking of such animals 

 is permitted ^without any restriction whatever. In the absence of any 

 protection very extensive and valuable clam beds in central Alaska 

 have been depleted, and other instances of the kind might be cited. 



FUTURE DE\-ELOPMENT OF AKdVSKA FISHERIES. 



While the salmon and halibut fisheries of Alaska will undoubtedly 

 hold a dominant place for many years, the greatest development of 

 the fishing industry is to be expected in other branches, particularly 

 in the increased attention given to cod and herring, and ultimately 

 to certain minor resources which are now almost untouched but 

 which in the aggregate constitute a potential source of food and 

 wealth that will mean much to the future welfare of Alaska. The 

 herring supply of Alaska is possibly unsurpassed anywhere in the 

 world, and there may be anticipated such a growth in herring fishing 

 and herring curing that a formidable rival of the salmon industry 

 may arise. Vast expanses of water in all parts of Alaska abound with 

 bottom food fishes of a kind in good demand in other parts of the 

 world, but their surface has remained practically unbroken by the 

 boats of fishermen equipped to take such fishes. Substantial devel- 

 opment may be expected also in the crab and shrimp fisheries. The 

 Alaska shrimps are not surpassed elsewhere in size and quality and 

 are undoubtedly destined to enter largely into commerce in a fresh, 

 frozen, and canned condition. 



CONTROL OVER THE ALASKA FISHERIES. 



There has been the usual agitation for the transfer to the Territory 

 of Alaska of the control over the aquatic and other natural resources 

 that has heretofore been exercised by the Federal Government. 

 The desire for this change of jurisdiction, while not entertained by 

 a conspicuously large number of the representative people of the 

 Territory, is a legitimate aspiration of those who hope to see Alaska 

 soon take her place as a sovereign State. As regards the fisheries, 

 the feeling is quite generally ])revalent among those having property 

 interests that the time is not yet ripe for the assumption of the re- 

 sponsibilities of statehood. 



While constantly dwelling on real and imaginary defects of the 

 fishery administration, it is a fact that interests ostensibly friendly 



