292 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND 'FISHERIES. 



SALMON FISHING. 



The Indians were fishing in this region when it was first invaded by 

 the whites. They were then, however, solely concerned in supplying 

 their own domestic wants, using apparently the same appliances they 

 do to-day, reef nets and hooks and lines in the salt water, and spears, 

 dip nets, and wek-s in the rivers. Traders reached the upper Fraser 

 very early in the century, thence working to the sea, and the salmon 

 became one of their most important foods, being obtained jjartly by 

 their own eflbrts and partly of the Indians. The latter gradually 

 developed into commercial fishermen, and to-day constitute a promi- 

 nent element in the fishing fraternity. 



The white man's fishing seems to have been first definitely organized 

 in British Columbian waters, as exemplified by the Fraser Eiver, 

 where its growth has been most rapid and systematic, and where its 

 extent is probably still the greatest. Under Government supervision 

 its methods there have practically been restricted to the use of a single 

 form of apparatus, the drift net, which is especially adapted to the 

 conditions prevailing where fishing is most actively carried on, and 

 which also provides that the industry may be shared by the greatest 

 number of individuals. 



There is less definite information regarding the history of this sub- 

 ject south of the boundary line, although the whites possibly began 

 fishing in the salt waters, where their catches have chiefly been made, 

 some time during the sixties. Their methods have become much more 

 diversified than in British Columbia, but it is only within about a 

 decade that their industry has attained prominence. Their output 

 seems destined very soon, however, to outstrip the Canadian fishery in 

 amount and value, if it has not already done so at the time of writ- 

 ing. Fishing on a greater or less scale is carried on throughout most 

 of the salt waters of Washington, but extensive oi)erations are mainly 

 concentrated in a few localities, as about Point Eoberts, in Skagit Bay, 

 and in the upper part of Puget Sound. Trap nets have become the 

 most important means of capture. Before their introduction i)urse 

 and drag seines and gill nets were theprincipal appliances aud they are 

 still used. There is some hook-and-line fishing, and reef nets continue 

 to be employed by a considerable number of Indians. 



In the Strait of Juan de Fuca there is comparatively little fishing 

 for salmon. Small quantities are taken about Becher Bay, on the Van- 

 couver Island side, chiefly by Indians, who also fish at the outer entrance 

 of the strait, off Cape Flattery and Neah Bay, where one or more 

 species are said to be sometimes quite abundant. On the south 

 shore fishing in a small way, mainly for the fresh market and local 

 use, has been carried on for some years, seines, gill nets, and hooks 

 and lines being used. It is engaged in by both whites and Indians, 

 who operate at several places along the coast, and also to a slight 

 extent in the Elwha and Dungeness rivers. The sockeye is not known 



