1392 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



ALASKA SALMON-INSPECTION SERVICE. 



The fishing interests in Alaska, representing an investment of $9,000,000 

 and yielding last year a product valued at more than $10,000,000, have received 

 especial attention from the Government ever since the Territory was acquired, in 

 1867. The seal fisheries, at first considered the most valuable sources of rev- 

 enue, were at once placed under protective legislation. I,ater there appeared 

 a similar need of regulation of the salmon fisheries, which have now come to 

 support industries many times more valuable than the seal fisheries and stand- 

 ing in large proportion to the total fishing interests of the whole United States. 

 The Alaska salmon-inspection service has thus grown to be one of the most 

 important branches of Government fishery work, and it is one of the few 

 instances where the Government has assumed legislative powers over fishing. 



Superv^ision of the salmon fisheries, as of the seal, was at first given to the 

 Treasury Department, and it remained under that jurisdiction until 1903, when 

 it was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor, by which it is 

 administered through the Bureau of Fisheries. There are three agents in this 

 field, whose duty it is to inquire into the methods by which fish are caught, 

 prepared, and marketed, and into the conditions of supply, to report thereon 

 and recommend legislation, and to enforce existing laws. For these purposes 

 the entire region is canvassed every year, the agents remaining on the ground 

 throughout the fishing season, from June to September. 



The protection of the Alaska salmon fisheries has been a difficult problem. 

 The unheard-of magnitude of the resources invited a corresponding recklessness 

 and improvidence. As the canning industry developed, every device that could 

 be used for wholesale capture of fish was put into operation, and gradually all 

 of the favorite streams of the salmon became so blocked with seines, gill nets, 

 traps, and barricades that but a small proportion of the fish could find passage 

 to the spawning grounds, and the future supply was thus most seriously endan- 

 gered. The Alaskan aborigines likewise conducted their fishing in a very destruc- 

 tive wav, often placing impassable barriers in streams up which salmon were 

 running, and, through ignorance or indifference, leaving the obstructions in 

 place after the full supply of fish had been secured. It was soon apparent that 

 the laws and regulations were inadequate to meet the special conditions prevail- 

 ing and were of such a nature as to make their enforcement very difficult. 



In 1903 a special commission was appointed to make exhaustive study of 

 the natural history of the salmons of Alaska and to submit recommendations for 

 an improved regulation of the fisheries. As a result a new code of laws is now 

 in effect and promises to prevent the threatened decline in these enormous indus- 

 tries. With increased restrictions as to fishing methods, obstructions in streams, 

 close seasons, etc., the Department of Commerce and Labor is empowered to 



