CENTRAL AND WESTERN ALASKA INVESTIGATION. 147 



ests of the public rnther than apparently in the interests of those 

 who seek to exploit them. 



They could be so handled as to insure their permanency and yet 

 leave their operation in private hands. Treat the canneries as exer- 

 cising quasipublic functions. License them to operate within re- 

 stricted limits and on a specified scale, neither of these to be modified 

 without direct authorization. Let no more operate witliin a given 

 field than can do so while still maintaining the run at its maximum of 

 production. Produce readjustments as these are shown necessary. 

 Permit further expansion wherever evidence shows that this can 

 safely be done. Restrict the output further wherever the danger 

 point is approached. Permit all the salmon to be taken for commer- 

 cial purposes that can with certainty be spared, but maintain a con- 

 stant safety factor in favor of the spawning beds. Maintain the runs 

 at their maximum of production. The salmon that could safely be 

 spared from such runs would be vastly more than the utmost glean- 

 ings when depletion has occurred. Whenever restriction of the out- 

 put becomes necessary, recognize the equity of the operators in that 

 region as soon as the policy adopted shall again permit a degree of 

 expansion. In this manner, the packers would cooperate with the 

 Government under such conditions that it would be to their interests, 

 equally with those of the public, to conserve the runs of salmon. 



It may be urged that however meritorious such a plan might 

 appear if the industry were in its infancy, it would be wholly imprac- 

 ticable to apply it under conditions as they now exist. But if the 

 principle be once accepted, work can gradually be directed in the 

 desired direction with immediate benefit to the situation. The 

 present laws can be modified so as to diminish predatory competition. 

 It can be required that existing canneries shall secure a license to 

 operate in specified territory with a given amount and kind of gear. 

 It should be discretionary with the Secretary of Commerce to license 

 or refuse to license new canneries, or to permit or refuse to permit 

 further expansion on the part of those already operating. And if on 

 fuU investigation it should appear that any region is being dangerously 

 drawn on, the Secretary should have authority to curtail production 

 to any necessary extent. At present his jurisdiction covers only the 

 streams themselves and a narrowly limited area about their mouths. 

 But in many districts the harm is caused by excessive fishing in salt- 

 water channels and in other restricted bodies of water which form 

 the approaches to the streams. 



Provision should be made in the laws that fishery sites can be 

 licensed under suitable conditions, and that property rights vest in 

 such sites under prescribed regidations. The nature and the amount 

 of gear that may be operated on such site should be specified in the 

 license. They should include trap locations, set-net and stake-net 

 locations, fish-wheel locations, and seining beaches. Unless certain 

 conditions were met these locations should revert to the public; 

 otherwise they should l)e the property of the licensees so long as they 

 could be operated without detriment to the sahnon supply. But it 

 should be within the discretion of the Secretary to limit or entirely 

 to suspend the use of any location when such course should appear 

 necessary. 



Some of these provisions are already in force in the States of Ore- 

 gon and Washington, where the discretionary power lodged in the 



