Ward. — Atlantic and Pacific Salmon 95 



Bureau of Fisheries is thus placed at a great disadvantage in administer- 

 ing the salmon fisheries of Alaska and cannot justly be held account- 

 able for conditions, practices and developments which, while having the 

 full sanction of law, are not necessarily compatible with the perpetua- 

 ftion of the supply and in some respects are directly opposed thereto. 



Concerning the magnitude of the problem the same 

 report speaks in another place thus: 



It is the salmon industry which gives to the fisheries of Alaska their 

 great importance, and it was the salmon industry that contributed most 

 notably to the increases that occurred in 1918. The value of all salmon 

 products was $53,514,812, of which $51,041,949, represented canned fish 

 to the number of 6,605,835 cases. Thus, 50 years after Alaska became 

 a part of our national domain, the salmon resources alone yielded a 

 product valued at over 7^/^ times the purchase price of the territory. 



The public interest thus put in jeopardy is of the first 

 magnitude and the danger both real and immediate. Biol- 

 ogists know how rapidly the progress of destruction pro- 

 ceeds and how soon the end comes when the diminution 

 in numbers of any species has once become conspicuous. 

 Increasing values always lead to redoubled efforts and 

 multiplied appliances for securing a catch and the vicious 

 cycle gains in velocity as it decreases in diameter. 



The commercial interests are strangling the goose that 

 has laid for them so many golden eggs and some are be- 

 ginning to be apprehensive for the future. Unless public 

 sentiment can be developed, unless the efforts of the 

 Bureau of Fisheries can be supported by adequate appro- 

 priations, and unless the taking of salmon can be subjected 

 to reasonable restrictions, that splendid fish will in a short 

 time be as much of a luxury on the Pacific coast as its 

 congener is today on the Atlantic. 



