V. FISHERY REGULATIONS. 



CONTROVERSIAL FORMS OF APPARATUS. 



From time immemorial the users of certain forms of fishing appa- 

 ratus have complained of and condemned the use of other forms, 

 which, either through disinclination, through lack of financial 

 means, or because it was not suitable for use in the section in which 

 they fished, they themselves have not seen fit to employ. -In some 

 instances these complaints are well founded, but an unprejudiced 

 observer is apt to view with suspicion charges advanced under condi- 

 tions when personal interest may so easily cloud or color the indi- 

 vidual judgment. In a court of equity it is a well-established prin- 

 ciple that the plaintiff must appear with clean hands, and that is a 

 difficult matter for the users of any form of apparatus in the salmon 

 fisheries of the Pacific coast. If in one section the fishermen live 

 strictly within the letter and spirit of the law, the users of the same 

 apparatus in another section may be the most persistent and destruc- 

 tive violators. And, again, while the law may be strictly observed, 

 the law itself may be inadequate or purposely deficient, and the 

 apparatus therefore be doing incalculable damage to the fisheries. 



While all forms of apparatus in use in the salmon fisheries of the 

 Pacific coast have been objected to in some one section or another, the 

 principal complaints have been against fish wheels and trap or pound 

 nets. The wheels are used only in the Columbia River. The traps 

 are found in the Columbia Elver and in the other waters of the State 

 of Washington and in Alaska. 



To the objections of other fishermen the owners of wheels and 

 traps retaliate by charging prejudice and self-interest, and with some 

 justification. It is unquestioned that these costly forms of apparatus 

 are be3^ond the financial means of the ordinary fishermen, that their 

 use reduces the number of persons employed in the fisheries, and that 

 the owners, who are usually the packers or others closely affiliated 

 with them, can, if they so desire, render themselves largely inde- 

 pendent of other fishermen, such as the gill netters and seiners, and 

 thus keep down the cost of the fish to the packers. Although not 

 often advanced publicly, this is the real basis of the most of the com- 

 plaints. Publicly the objections are based upon higher grounds, 



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