FISHERY INDUSTRIES. 



As in corresponding reports for previous years, the Territory of 

 Alaska is here considered in the three coastal geographic sections 

 generally recognized, as follows: Southeast Alaska, embracing all that 

 narrow strip of mainland and the numerous adjacent islands from 

 Portland Canal northwestward to and including Yakutat Bay; cen- 

 tral Alaska, the region on the Pacific from YaKutat Bay westward, 

 including Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, and the southern coast 

 of Alaska Peninsula, to Unimak Pass; and western Alaska, the north 

 shore of the Alaska Peninsula, including the Aleutian Islands and 

 Bristol Bay and the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers. 



Detailed reports and statistical tables dealing with the various 

 fishery industries are presented herewith, and there are also given the 

 important features of certain subjects which were the objects of 

 special investigation or inquiry. 



WATERS CLOSED TO COMMERCIAL FISHING. 



Section 6 of the act approved June 26, 1906, for the protection and 

 regulation of the fisheries of Alaska, is as follows : 



Sec. 6. That the Secretary of Commerce may, in his discretion, set aside any streams 

 or lakes as preserves for spawning grounds, in which fishing may be limited or entirely 

 prohibited; and when, in his judgment, the results of fishing operations in any stream, 

 or off the mouth thereof, indicate that the number of salmon taken is larger than the 

 natural production of salmon in such stream, he is authorized to establish close seasons 

 or to limit or prohibit fishing entirely for one year or more within such stream or within 

 five hundred yards of the mouth thereof, so as to permit salmon to increase: Provided, 

 however, That such power shall be exercised only after all persons interested shall be 

 given a hearing, of which due notice must be given by publication; and where the 

 interested parties are known to the department they shall be personally notified 

 by a notice mailed not less than thirty days pre\T.ous to such hearing. No order 

 made under this section shall be effective before the next calendar year after same is 

 made: And provided further, That such limitations and prohibitions shall not apply 

 to those engaged in catching salmon who keep such streams fully stocked with salmon 

 by artificial propagation. 



Pursuant to the provisions of this section, action was taken in 

 1921 in regard to waters of southeastern Alaska and the waters from 

 Cape Newenham north and eastward to the Canadian boimdary. 

 Under date of June 17, 1921, announcement was made of hearings 

 to consider the desirability of changes in the regulations regarding 

 fishing in southeastern Alaska waters. The text of the announce- 

 ment was as follows : 



It having been recommended that the Secretary of Commerce amend the order of 

 December 18, 1920, limiting or prohibiting fishing in the waters of Alaska east of the 

 longitude of Cape Spencer, notice is hereby given, under the pro\T.sions of section 

 6 of the act of Congress approved June 26, 1906, entitled "'An act for the protection 

 and regulation of the fisheries of Alaska," that hearings, for the purpose of eliciting 

 information as to what, if any, changes in the present regulations are desirable, will 

 be held at Juneau, Alaska, on October 19, 1921, at 10 o'clock a. m., and at the office 

 of the Bureau of Fisheries, 1217 L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, Wash., on November 

 15, 1921, at 10 o'clock a. m., respectively, at which all interested persons will be 

 heard. AH persons having pertinent information are particularly invited to be 

 present and to impart such information. 



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