PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 93 
reports of one cannery during the period from May 11 to May 29 
showed there had been received 4,061 pounds of these fish, none of 
which weighed 5 pounds. From May 30 to June 12 this same ¢an- 
nery received 548 of these fish having a total weight of 1,483 pounds. 
As the owner of this cannery was decidedly opposed to the purchase 
of these fish, and only bought them because his regular fishermen 
would have gone to other cannerymen with their full-sized fish had he 
not taken the immature ones, 1t is probable that the cannerymen 
who were not opposed to the practice received a greater proportion of 
immature fish than he. 
An idea of the smallness of these immature salmon may be gained 
when it is stated that the average weight of sexually mature chinook 
salmon running into the Columbia River is about 22 pounds. 
These small chinooks are said to produce a very inferior quality of 
canned goods, being rated as second and third grade. The meat is of 
an ashy color, poor in fat content, and insipid in taste. 
Off the Strait of Juan de Fuca the same condition of affairs 
existed as off the Columbia River, with the added complication that 
many immature cohos were also captured. 
The immature feeding coho deteriorates when taken from the 
water even more rapidly than does the immature feeding chinook. 
Within 24 hours of being taken from the water the abdomens may be 
broken open, the ribs protrude freely, and the flesh begins to deteri- 
orate. It was early found that it was impossible, except through the 
exercise of extraordinary precautions, to get these fish to the up- 
sound canneries before it was too late, so that of recent years only 
canneries situated adjacent to the banks were enabled to use them. 
The sale of young salmon in the fresh fish markets-of Seattle and 
other Puget Sound cities has been common for years. They are mar- 
keted usually as ‘‘salmon trout.” 
It is an economic crime to catch and kill these immature salmon 
as but little money is obtained for them, while if they were allowed 
to attain maturity they would increase in weight, in the case of the 
chinook nearly 1,000 per cent on the average and in the case of the 
coho about 100 per cent in four or five months time. 
Another bad feature of trolling operations off the mouth of the 
Columbia River is that trollers, because they operated outside the 
3-mile limit, were exempted from the observance of the regular closed 
season, operative in the river from August 25 to September 10. Asa 
result of this, fishing was carried on continuously throughout the run; 
most of the gill netters who had to stop fishing in the river put their 
nets ashore and went outside and engaged in trolling, while canneries 
on the river bought and canned all the fish brought in. In 1917 the 
Washington Legislature enacted a law prohibiting possession within 
the State during the closed season, except for personal use, of salmon 
caught beyond the 3-mile limit outside the Columbia River. The 
State court, on trial, held this to be unconstitutional as being an 
interference with interstate and foreign commerce. 
Oregon also adopted the same law as Washington, and on trial this 
was upheld as constitutional on October 3, 1919, by the Oregon 
circuit court. However, the law will be of no value if valid in only 
one State, as if enforced there the fishermen will sell their catches 
in the other State, 
