324 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



would sooner or later be divscovered. It was at one time insisted that 

 unless disposed of for fertilizing- purposes it be buried on sliore, be 

 carried out and dumped in the Gulf of Georgia, or be confined in cribs 

 underneath the canneries; but none of these provisions continued long- 

 in force. When held in cribs a nuisance was created by the oily matter 

 running from the mass of decaying fish, and the inclosures would often 

 break open, allowing a part of their contents to escape. If retained in 

 cribs or in scows, even for a short time, the refuse was rendered largely 

 buoyant by the formation of gases in the putrid flesh, so that when 

 deposited in the gulf much of it remained floating at the surface, and 

 with a flood tide and westerly wind would be drifted on the shore or 

 even into the river mouth. The outside dumping-ground has now 

 become one of the most important of the drift net areas, and the inex- 

 pediency of continuing its use for the former purpose is fully recognized. 

 Could the refuse have been carried farther out into the middle of the 

 gulf this trouble would have been mostly prevented, but at a greatly 

 increased cost. 



Several attempts have been made to utilize the oftal by converting it 

 into fertilizer on a commercial basis, but as yet unsuccessfully. Its 

 very oily nature makes the process diificult and expensive, and another 

 serious troulde arises from the immense quantity required to be 

 handled daring the brief period of the fishery, necessitating extensive 

 arrangements, the cost of which would scarcely be warranted by the 

 sliortness of the season. 



While the offal is fresh it sinks at once and gives no trouble, except 

 under the circumstances previously described. Until some positively 

 better plan has been discovered, this seems, therefore, to be unques- 

 tionably the preferable way of disposing of it, provided certain precau- 

 tions are observed. It should be allowed to go into the river only 

 where the water is sufficiently deep and the current strong enough to 

 cause its dissipation. If these conditions do not exist at certain of the 

 cannery sites, then the offal there produced should be carried else- 

 where for deposition. A study of the conditions is called for in all 

 localities where canneries are in operation, and the gravity of the 

 question presented by this subject warrants extreme measures to pre- 

 serve the cleanliness of the river for the sake of the general health and 

 appearances. As regards the salmon, however, the continuance of 

 their runs seems to be in no danger from any of the circumstances con- 

 nected with the offal problem. The fact that fresh offal sinks to the 

 bottom gives color to the complaints made in some other regions where 

 bottom fisheries are carried on, but with the salmon, which keep above 

 the bottom and are sui)posed not to be intlnenced in their passage by 

 the conditions it displays, the case is very different. 



