154 XT. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



enabled, therefore, to give a demonstration of the results of such 

 operations when these two conditions appear in conjunction. The 

 disastrous year of 1919 resulted. 



As to the future, there is no assurance of better protection than in 

 1919. From our inquiries it appears that the Yukon runs of salmon 

 are by no means uniform in size. Good years and poor years alter- 

 nate, and occasional very poor years have always appeared. Mean- 

 while the Carlisle company continues to operate without check be- 

 yond the mouth of the river. Should they consider the prospect of 

 success warranted the expenditure, there is nothing to prevent their 

 increasing the number of fishermen and preparing for a pack of 

 100,000 instead of 60,000 cases. Or one or more other companies 

 may join in the business of catching Yukon salmon off the mouth of 

 the river if they consider the venture a promising one. The Yukon 

 run is whoUy without adequate protection as long as the approaches 

 to the river are open to unrestricted fishing and are outside the 

 jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce. 



Finally, it is the judgment of the writers that the Yukon River 

 salmon run is not to be relied on annually to produce a surplus for 

 export in addition to the supply needed for local requirements and 

 the further quantity essential for propagation. During good years 

 a surplus might be spared sufficient to produce a limited pack, but 

 during poor years the operation of a cannery will have the effect 

 of making a bad situation very decidedly worse. 



It is recommended, therefore, that all commercial fishing for 

 export be prohibited in the Yukon River and its tributaries, includ- 

 ing the waters of the delta and an area 500 yards outside the mouth 

 of each channel or slough of the delta. 



Furthermore, it is recommended that immediate steps be taken to 

 have brought within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce 

 all those channels between the shoals and islands which form the 

 approaches to the Yukon in order that commercial fishing in said 

 channels for export may be effectively limited or entirely prohibited. 



o 



