FISHERIES OF WASHINGTON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. 345 



of the weir at least should be entirely prohibited, as has been done in 

 British Columbia. It is important to note in this connection that the 

 Indians have been guaranteed certain treaty rights which should be 

 respected. They are fast yielding to civilization; their power for harm 

 is already iuflnitesimal when compared with the whites, and seems 

 likely soon to cease altogether. In Washington no restrictions are 

 put upon the Indians in fishing to supply their own needs. In British 

 Columbia they are permitted to take salmon for their own use by their 

 customary methods, aside from the weirs, at any time and anywhere 

 except on the spawning-grounds. In respect to the last provision 

 many violations are reported and require attention. In all commercial 

 fishing they are subject to the same regulations as the whites. 



While suitable regulations as to the character and manner of using 

 the different kinds of apparatus might be expected to provide for the 

 escape of a sufficient number of fish to cover all the requirements for 

 spawning, yet in x^ractice, and this holds true especially with the sal- 

 mon, it has been found essential to supplement the restrictions already 

 referred to by a total cessation of fishing during more or less of the 

 period when the fish are running. The laws of Canada seem quite 

 ample in this respect, but in Washington the matter has not been fairly 

 treated. Although the need of such regulations may not appear 

 important while the supply of salmon continues large, yet we can not 

 question the benefits already derived from the measures of this kind 

 enforced on the Fraser River, and urge their early adoption elsewhere 

 as one of the surest means of maintaining the sui)ply of the choicer 

 species. 



The most suitable periods for the close times and their proper dura- 

 tion give rise in this region to questions of some perplexity. Had we 

 to deal witli only a single species, or at the most with two differing so 

 much in size and season as the quinnat and the sockeye, there would 

 be little trouble in reaching a satisfactory arrangement, but with six 

 species appearing at successively later periods and yet overlapping, 

 sometimes quite markedly, in their runs, many difficulties are presented. 

 The time most commonly selected for the salmon is toward the close of 

 the run, when it has the additional advantage of preventing their 

 capture and sale when they are in the least acceptable condition for 

 food. Doubt has often been expressed as to whether this protection of 

 the later-running fish is of any benefit to the earlier runs of succeeding 

 years, cm the supposition that salmon run at the same time and to pre- 

 cisely the same places as their progenitors, but until these questions 

 have been more positively decided there seems to be no reason why the 

 customary practice should not continue. 



In British Columbia the subject is very much simplified by the facts 

 that the commercial fishery is directed mainly toward the quinnat and 

 sockeye and is restricted to a single method. The larger mesh of the 

 quinnat drift nets can be used through the sockeye season without 



