42 



PISHEBY AND FUE INDUSTRIES OP ALASKA IN 1912. 



movable gear, is carried on in numerous remote and difficultly access- 

 ible places contemporaneousl}^ must be kept in mind. In all Alaska, 

 not including the larger rivers such as the Yukon, some 400 different 

 fishing places are reported. If each isolated trap or group of traps is 

 regarded as a separate locality and complete report were made in all 

 sections of each particular locality or stream fished, the number 

 would be considerably increased. These fishing places are scattered 

 over some 20,000 miles of coast line, much of it outside water navi- 

 gable only by substantial boats in time of rough weather. 



The impracticability of subjecting such a region to the effective 

 surveillance of wardens, unless supported by a healthy and active 

 public sentiment, is at once apparent. Whatever legislation may be 

 enacted, so long as smaU movable gear, such as the ordinary seines 

 and gillnets, may be owned and used and all fish taken, sold, and 

 shipped, the ultimate fate of the fishery will remain m the hands of 

 the operators of such gear. A regulation of stationary apparatus can 

 be enforced within a reasonable expenditure even with the apparatus 

 in the hands of the irresponsible or the malicious ; regulation of the non- 

 stationary apparatus must be effected primarily by public sentiment. 



Salmon Taken Since 190G, Shown by Apparatus, Species, and Year, for 

 Each Geographic Section of Alaska. 



