36 FISHEEIES OF ALASKA, 1908. 



but in Alaska, where federal authority is supreme and legislation may 

 be uniform for the whole of the wide territory involved, it is in order 

 to take cognizance of questions of pollution at this early day and to 

 look forward to the embodiment in the law of restrictions which will 

 keep the streams and harbors in a condition as closely approaching 

 natural purity as possible. It will be easier to maintain the purity 

 of pubhc waters by legal action than to abate nuisances of pollution 

 after they have become established and confirmed. 



WASTE IN PREPARING SALMON BELLIES. 



The pickling of salmon bellies as practiced in Alaska has involved 

 the waste of all of each fish save the comparatively thin abdominal 

 wall constituting the so-called ''bell3^"v It has not been profitable 

 so far to use the remaining portion, which has been in consequence 

 almost invariably thrown away. The part wasted is greater than 

 the part put on the market, and the total loss from this source dur- 

 ing 1907 is calculated as the equivalent of some 2,000,000 pounds 

 of whole salmon. It has been for some time felt that this waste is 

 unjustifiable, and in 1906 the salmon agent recommended that the 

 practice be forbidden when no use was made of the rest of the fish. 

 The Secretary of Commerce and Labor has in fact found such waste 

 to be contrary to existing law, construing section 8 of the Alaska 

 fisheries act of 1906 to distinctly apply to this particular form of 

 waste. Being so notified, the Commissioner of Fisheries, on April 18^ 

 1908, issued the following notice: 



NOTICE TO PACKERS OF SALMON IN ALASKA. 



It is desired to call the attention of all packers of salmon in Alaska to section 8 of 

 the act for the protection of the fisheries of Alaska, approved June 26, 1906, which 

 reads as follows : 



"Sec 8. That it shall be unlawful for any person, company, or corporation wan- 

 tonly to waste or destroy salmon or other food fishes taken or caught in any of the 

 waters of Alaska." 



The present methods of preparing the bellies of salmon for the market involve the 

 waste of a large part of the edible portion of the fish. It is believed that this waste 

 is contrary to the spirit and letter of the above provision. The Secretary of Com- 

 merce and Labor, who is charged with the enforcement of the Alaska fisheries act, 

 has notified this bureau that the practice of curing and preserving the so-called 

 belly of the salmon, which results in the waste of a large proportion of the edible 

 portion of the fish, is a wanton waste within the meaning of section 8 above, and that 

 after January 1, 1909, those who engage in this practice will be reported for prosecu- 

 tion, as provided for in the act. 



Packers should especially note that this construction of the law 

 does not forbid the preparing of salmon bellies for the market. It 

 forbids the waste which has usually accompanied their preparation. 

 If the edible remnant is canned or otherwise used or prepared for use 

 as food, the practice is legal. 



