22 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



canned; the prohibition of any trap, barricade, dam, or other fixed 

 obstruction in any waters at any point where the distance from shore 

 to shore is less than 500 feet, or within 500 yards of any salmon stream 

 less than 500 feet wide at its mouth; the prohibition of any kind of 

 net tishing which obstructs more than one-third the width of any 

 stream, creek, estuary, or lagoon; the prohibition of the laying- of 

 any seine or other net within 100 yards of any other net, and of the 

 setting of any trap or other fixed appliance within 600 yards laterally 

 or 100 yards endwise of any other similar apparatus; the prescribing 

 of a weekly close season for all kinds of net fishing; the authorizing 

 of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to restrict or altogether pro- 

 hibit fishing in waters where there is evidence of overfishing, and to 

 set aside as preserves any waters which he may deem desii'able; the 

 prohi))ition of the canning or salting of salmon dead more than forty- 

 eight hours, and of the misbranding of an}' canned, salted, or otherwise 

 preserved fish. 



The invasion of Alaskan waters by Japanese fishermen in large num- 

 bers aroused protest which took form in a measure intended to pre- 

 vent aliens from fishing within those limits. The report of the House 

 Committee on Territories contained the statement that the bill was 

 proposed "not b}" reason of the existence in the United States of any 

 feeling of hostilit}^ toward the Japanese people, but because of the 

 proximity of Japan to Alaska the Japanese fishermen fish more in 

 Alaskan waters than all other aliens combined." The bill became a 

 law on June 14, 1906. 



The subject of the destructiveness of dogfish on the Atlantic coast 

 was actively taken up b}^ the Massachusetts Board of Fish and Game 

 Commissioners, and in view of the impossibility of obtaining eflective 

 action by the numerous States concerned, appeal was made to the 

 General Government. Man}' petitions from fishermen in all sections 

 poured into Congress, and a bill was finally introduced providing for 

 a bounty of 2 cents on every dogfish killed along the coast between 

 Cape Hatteras and Eastport, Me. The Bureau's recommendations, 

 however, were to the effect that instead of establishing the undesirable 

 precedent of the proposed bounty, the extermination of the dogfish or 

 the checking of its destructivness be sought by voting a sum of money 

 to be used in "determining the most effective metliods of redu-cing 

 the numbers of dogfish and of capturing them in wholesale quantities; 

 in demonstrating the economic value of dogfish as a source of fertil- 

 izer, oil, and leather, and the most suitable methods of utilizing them 

 for such purposes; and in testing the usefulness of the dogfish as food 

 when used fresh or prepared by salting, smoking, and canning; and 

 in developing the domestic and foreign markets for such prepara- 

 tions." The bill was not reached for action. 



American sponge fishermen have had reason for serious concern in 



