PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 



507 



(That the subsequent decrease in the runs was not to be attributed 

 solely to the rock slide in Hell Gate Canyon is plainly evident by a 

 glance at the pack figures in this area before and subsequent to 1913. 

 The following statement shows the combined sockeye packs of the 

 American and Canadian packers operating on the run going to the 

 Fraser River: 



Cases 



1909 29 i_ 590, 555 



1910. 

 1911. 

 1912. 



384, 869 

 189, 767 

 307, 775 



1913 292,401,488 



1914 534,434 



1915 155,714 



1916 105,870 



1917 29 559 732 



1918 70,420 



1919. 

 1920. 

 1921. 

 1922. 

 1923. 

 1924. 

 1925_ 

 1926- 

 1927. 



Cases 

 98, 409 



111,053 

 2" 142, 598 



100, 398 

 79, 057 



109, 112 

 29 147, 408 



130, 362 



158, 987 



Aside from the damage caused to the "big year" run by the rock 

 shde, there can be only one explanation of such a progressive decUne 

 in the pack, and that is excessive fishing. The fishermen of both 

 countries are to blame for this. On the American side traps, purse 

 seines, and, in a sUght degree, gill nets, have taken a heavy toll of the 

 fish as they passed through our waters. After some had safely run 

 this gantlet they met thousands of gill nets operated by Canadian 

 fishermen in and around the mouth of the Fraser River and in the 

 lower reaches of same, and it is a wonder that any of the schools 

 ever got to the spawning beds. Several abortive attempts have been 

 made by the authorities of Canada and British Columbia on the one 

 side and the State of Washington on the other to arrive at some equi- 

 table method for protecting this sockeye run. The former especially 

 have professed an earnest desire to do something along this Kne, and 

 there is no reason to doubt their sincerity. On the American side a 

 few people, and among these a few of the more intelligent canners, 

 pleaded for the enactment of laws that would adequately protect the 

 salmon, but they were overborne by the great bullv of the packers and 

 fishermen who, disregarding all the warnings and teachings of expe- 

 rience, insisted upon going ruthlessly forward with the slaughter, 

 and when reproached with their shortsightedness clamored for the 

 establishment of more salmon hatcheries, as though the latter could 

 accomphsh the miracle of increasing the supply of fry from a steadily 

 decreasing supply of eggs. 



That this wanton destruction of one of our greatest natural re- 

 sources should have been permitted to continue unchecked by the 

 people of Washington and British Columbia is a most surprising thing, 

 and indicates either a most remarkable ignorance of the condition, 

 which should have been patent to everybody, or a criminal apathy. 



AMERICAN-CANADIAN FISHERIES CONFERENCE 



In 1917 a joint commission, known as the American-Canadian 

 Fisheries Conference, was appointed to take evidence and see if it 

 were possible to compose the fishery disputes which had affected the 

 good relations of the two countries for over 150 years. The com- 

 mission was composed, for America, of William C. Redfield, Secretary 

 of Commerce; Edwin F. Sweet, Assistant Secretary of Commerce; and 



2« The big year, which comes every fourth year. 



