82 V. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



not well defined and has proved rather confusing to strangers. 

 Some acquire the shore line by mineral location or by the use of scrip, 

 while still others have merely a squatter's right. 



Under the existing fislvtrap laws applicame to Alaska, a fish trap 

 may be operated anywhere along the coast of Alaska, 3(0 yards 

 from the mouth of any salmon stream, and along the shoie. of all 

 rivers — excepting those emptying into Cook Inlet, the streams on 

 Afognak Island, and in Wood Kiver — where the same are at least 500 

 feet wide. 



A clear water distance of 600 yards laterally and 100 yards end- 

 wise must be maintained between all traps. At the present time 

 there is no law regulating the length of leads, the maximum depth 

 of water in which the pot may be driven, or the use or occupancy of 

 the trap sites. 



It has been decided by the highest courts within the past year that 

 title to the upland conveys no title to the trap owner who may be in 

 front. The tidelands of Alaska are not of sufficient commercial 

 importance as yet to enter into this controversy. At the present 

 time there is no tideland law applicable to Alaska affecting the 

 upland owners or the trap-site locators. 



At the present time the canner who is on the ground first with 

 piles and a driver can assert his right to any unoccupied trap site 

 regardless of who fished it the previous season. This, however, is the 

 exception rather than the rule. As a general proposition the can- 

 ners respect the rights of rivals in the same fishing region, and a 

 trap location once recognized as that of a certain individual or com- 

 pany is rarely jumped so long as the original locator cares to main- 

 tain a trap on it. 



Within the bounds of the forest reserve no land can be acquired 

 except by lease, which may be secured from the United States for- 

 estry agent, Ketchikan, Alaska. 



INDIAN TRAPS. 



The natives, especially in Alaska, have various ingenious methods 

 of catching salmon. In the Bering Sea rivers they catch them by 

 means of wickerwork traps, made somewhat after the general style 

 of a fyke net. These are composed of a series of cylindrical and 

 conical baskets, fitting into each other, with a small opening in the 

 end connecting one with the other and the series terminating in a 

 tube with a removable bottom, through which the captive fish are 

 extracted. Some of the baskets are Irom 15 to 25 feet in length 

 and are secured with stakes driven into the river bottom, while the 

 leader, composed of square sections of wickerwork, is held in place 

 by stakes. 



During the summer of 1910 the author found and destroyed an 

 ingenious native trap set in Tamgas stream, Annette Island, south- 

 east Alaska. This stream is a short and narrow one, draining a 

 lake, about midway of which are a succession of cascades. In the 

 narrowest part of the latter, and in the part up which the fish swim, 

 a rack had been constructed of poles driven into the bottom and cov- 

 ered with wire netting, so as almost wholly to prevent salmon from 

 passing up. Just below, and running parallel to the rack and at 

 right angles to the shore, was placed a l)ox flume with a flaring 

 mouth at the outer end. At the shore end the flume turned sharply 



