84 . REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. 
FISHERY PATROL AND STREAM WATCHMEN. 
During the fishing season of 1917 the Bureau employed in the 
fishery patrol of the Alaskan coast two small vessels, named the 
Murre and the Auklet, after local sea birds, which had been built to 
order and put in commission in July. These are seaworthy craft, 
constructed after the well-tried salmon purse-seine boat, and have 
given entire satisfaction. In addition to the Osprey, which was put 
into commission in the latter part of the fiscal year, the Bureau hired 
for the fishery patrol of the Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, and 
Nushagak regions a schooner and three launches. 
For the season of 1918 there was placed in service at Fairbanks 
a boat which the Bureau had built for the use of its employees in 
connection with field work on the Yukon River and its tributaries. 
This boat will greatly facilitate the work of the wardens and others 
in enforcing the laws for the protection of fisheries and also fur- 
bearing animals in the interior of Alaska. This boat, named the 
Swan, is 32 feet in length and is equipped with a 20-horsepower 
motor. There are sleeping accommodations for two persons. Here- 
tofore employees of the Bureau have been dependent upon private 
boats for transportation in these waters. 
For the fishing season of 1918 the Bureau inaugurated an addi- 
tional feature for securing the more adequate enforcement of the 
fishery laws. A number of temporary employees, designated as 
stream watchmen, were detailed to important fishing grounds in 
southeastern and central Alaska. Each watchman was assigned a 
limited area to patrol, which he was expected to keep under con- 
tinuous observation. In certain regions where fishing is carried on 
by means of gill nets, haul and purse seines, or other movable appa- 
ratus, these watchmen will be much more effective than patrol boats. 
Patrol boats can enforce the law in respect to movable apparatus only 
while actually present at the fishing grounds where it is used. The 
appropriation necessarily limited the number of men who could be 
advantageously employed in this way. However, by selecting cer- 
tain strategic points for operations and by shifting the watchmen 
from one stream to another in response to changing conditions in 
respect to fishery operations it is thought that a very considerable 
amount of protection may be afforded the fisheries at comparatively 
small cost. 
Ten men were employed to undertake this work. Seven of them 
were secured through the dean of the University of Washington, 
five of the seven being students at the university and two being pro- 
fessors, while an eighth was a graduate of the university. One man 
was secured in the State of Washington, and the tenth man was 
engaged in southeastern Alaska. Five of the men were assigned 
to -ork in southeastern Alaska and five in central Alaska under the 
immediate direction of the Bureau’s regular officers. A number of 
small boats were hired for the use of these men. 
Various prosecutions have been instituted in the Alaska courts 
and before United States commissioners for violations of laws and 
regulations for the protection of salmon. The violations consisted 
mostly of nonobservance of the weekly close season, operation of 
gear within prohibited distances of other gear, and failure to mark 
