FISHERIES OF WASHINGTON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. 333 



take action regarding the si)ecies last named, the protection of the 

 eulachon is of sufficient moment to be made the subject of inquiry. 



While the supply of sturgeon is presumably still intact, this bulky 

 fish, whose value is so greatly enhanced by its caviar, has been the 

 first to suffer in each new fishery of which it has formed a part, and 

 its early elimination from each as a i)rominent factor has been the rule. 

 Attention here has been so closely concentrated upon the salmon, and 

 the diflticulties in the way of marketing the sturgeon have been so 

 great, that the latter has been little fished for until within a few years. 

 Tts abundance, however, and the readiness with which it may be cap- 

 tured in both the fresh and salt water presage for it an extensive 

 fishery, which has already taken form on the Fraser River and pos- 

 sibly elsewhere. In the salt water it is mainly caught incidentally in 

 connection with the salmon, but with better means of disposing of the 

 catch it is certain to be sought for specially. 



The protection of the sturgeon may, in a measure, be secured by pro- 

 hibiting the capture and sale of any but the mature sizes, by making 

 reservations of the spawning-grounds, by instituting close seasons, and 

 by restricting the amount of fishing. The Washington law of 1897 

 makes a close season from March 1 to November 1 and forbids the use 

 of young sturgeon less than 4 feet in length. In British Columbia 

 there is a general close season from June 1 to July 15 and a weekly 

 close time corresponding with that for the salmon. Fishing is limited 

 to the use of gill nets, drift nets, and baited hooks, the nets being not 

 longer than 300 fathoms and having not less than a 12-inch mesh. 

 They can not be set less than 250 yards apart. isTot more than 6 hooks 

 can be attached to each fishing line, and sturgeon under 4 feet long 

 must be returned alive to the water. 



The salmons, much more than any other fishes, demand immediate 

 and serious consideration, as they constitute by far the most prominent 

 fishery resource of the region and furnish the bulk of all its fishing. 

 Without them the fisheries here would never have attracted special 

 attention, and should they ever meet with the mishaps which seem 

 elsewhere to have been the inevitable result of civilizing influences this 

 industrynuistcertainly become of comparatively slight importance. Not 

 all the other species combined could nearly take their place as a source 

 of local revenue. 



The quantity of salmon which frequents these waters is beyond cal- 

 culation, and seems even to be so great as to challenge human ingenuity 

 to affect it in any way ; but upon reverting to the conditions that existed 

 in the northern Atlantic rivers less than a century ago we are led to 

 recognize the omnipotence of man in this direction at least. The 

 destruction there, to be sure, was due only in part to overfishing, but 

 to-day the demands are much greater and the fishing engines more 

 powerful. The catch need not reach the consumer immediately, but may 

 be stored awaiting his pleasure or a rise in prices, and may be shipped, 

 without injury, to the remotest quarters of the world. Such activity in 



