22 REPORT OF ALASKA INVESTIGATIONS. 



for canneries to furnish the fishermen with short seines with which to go up stream and take fish from the 

 spawning grounds. With ordinary facilities it is impossible for officers of the Government to detect and 

 stop all such illegal practices in the taking of fish. Therefore, I would suggest that to remedy this situation 

 it would be well to abolish the use of seines under a minimum length of ioo fathoms; and, further, to make 

 the law stronger, it would be well to make even the possession of any such seine in Alaska under ioo fathoms 

 a violation as much as to be actually caught using it. Also, as with regard to traps, no purse seine should 

 be operated closer than half a mile to the mouth of a stream. This is a most important point in the future 

 protection of the salmon. 



HAUL OR BEACH SEINING. 



With the haul seines the same conditions exist to-day as with the purse seines, and the same remedies 

 are suggested. In addition, with reference to purse and haul seining, I was impressed with the fact that 

 fishermen in some instances do not take the short seines up stream, possibly not having any at hand, but 

 they go up the stream to where the fish are ascending or spawning and drive them back into the deeper 

 water, where other fishermen are waiting with their seines to catch them. This is in direct violation of 

 the spirit of the law, and there should be a heavy penalty in all such cases, even though the men are not 

 actually found taking the fish in seines, or by other means. Every effort should be put forth to prevent the 

 capture of salmon after they have succeeded in reaching waters in which to spawn. 



GILL NETTING. 



The gill nets really have a small part in the salmon industry so far as southeastern Alaska is concerned, 

 only about 2 per cent of the total catch of salmon being taken in this manner. However, in Bristol Bay, 

 in western Alaska, they are used very extensively. In southeast Alaska gill nets are used chiefly at the 

 mouth of the Stikine River and in Taku Bay. Under the present law, gill nets are required to be 100 

 yards apart, but on account of the tides which cause these nets to move about, compliance with this law 

 is made quite difficult. However, I feel certain that the fishermen have not done their part in the past, 

 and that they could do more toward complying with the letter of the law by exercising more care and 

 vigilance. It would seem wise to change the present law so that the distance interval between gill nets 

 will be 200 yards instead of 100 yards. 



As with the purse and haul seines, gilled fish do not reach their destination at the canneries in as 

 good condition as those furnished by the traps other than perhaps in Bristol Bay, where the fishing grounds 

 are close to the canneries and nets are not in the water for long periods. When a salmon is gilled, it is 

 likely to die soon, and thereafter often remains in the water a number of hours, which causes a certain 

 deterioration. Gilled fish are easy to distinguish by the mark resulting from the net at their gills. A 

 fair number of salmon taken in gill nets are not caught by the gills, but farther back on the body, and 

 they remain alive in the water for hours. 



All fishing paraphernalia, such as traps, haul seines, purse seines, and gill nets, should be registered 

 before being put to use. A license system will make this obligatory. 



OTHER FISHING METHODS. 



Another method of fishing is that practiced by the Chilkat and Chilkoot Indians, of spearing, gaffing, 

 or hooking salmon. It seems unfair to totally deprive these Indians of this ancient method of fishing, 

 for they have certain prior rights that I believe should be recognized, but I think that the practice should 

 be confined to these two tribes and to the Chilkat and Chilkoot Rivers ; furthermore, that they should be 

 permitted to continue it only with the understanding that the fish are to be used wholly for domestic 

 purposes and are not to be sold. 



Still another rather unique method of fishing is practiced in the Copper River above the delta. When 

 the salmon are running up the stream in localities where the water is very swift, they seek the shores, in 

 order to avoid the current, and are easily picked up by hand dip nets. I experienced the sensation of 

 catching them myself, and it is very easy to land many of them in the course of an hour. It strikes me that 

 when these fish have run by the many gill nets in the Copper River delta, they should be permitted to 

 continue uninterruptedly their journey up to the spawning grounds. However, as there are various little 



