14 
In the discussion of this question it has been pointed out on the one hand that 
the use of traps is a destructive method of catching fish; that too great a portion 
of the run is taken; that their use will exterminate the fish, and will deprive the 
fishermen of employment, because the cost of traps is so great that only men of 
means could own and operate them. On the other hand it is said that the use of 
traps is more scientific, more economical, and the more easily regulated method of 
catching fish; that by no other method can they be taken in the clear 
waters; that in the clear waters of the Straits and Sound the fish 
are in better condition for use; that the fish taken are not killed 
until removed from the traps; that they can be held for a week or 
ten days without injury to their canning qualities; that when the packing capacity 
of the canneries has been reached the traps can be closed; that fish taken in gill- 
nets are killed or fatally injured in being removed from them; that their catch 
cannot be regulated, and at times is in excess of the capacity of the canneries ; 
that there is an ever-increasing scarcity of labourers in the packing establishments ; 
that the men who are now engaged in the hazardous and laborious business of 
fishing would find ready and equally remunerative employment in the canneries and 
in connection with the trap-fishing. 
Clearly there is much to be said on both sides of this pressing question. 
Independent, however, of the many arguments pro and con, I believe that the use 
of traps, purse and drag nets for the capture of salmon on the south-west coast of 
Vancouver Island is justifiable, because the main portion of the Fraser River run 
of sockeye salmon which comes in from the sea strikes the coast of the Island 
east of Port San Juan, and advances close in shore through the Straits to Race 
Rocks, thence easterly into American waters, and the fish are there captured in 
vast numbers by means of traps, purse and drag nets. I also believe that by the 
use of traps and purse nets on the south-west coast of Vancouver Island a good 
portion of this run which now passes from our waters into American waters could 
be captured. I believe, from personal observation and investigation, in a season 
like the past, that the greater part, if not all, of the fish that strike the south- 
east end of San Juan Island and the waters to the south, and which direct their 
course for the Fraser River through Rosario Strait, are captured by the American 
traps and purse nets, and consequently never regain British Columbia waters. 
To me it is not a question as to whether the capture of these fish in provincial 
waters by means of traps will endanger the perpetuation of them. In my opinion 
the question as to whether trap-fishing is or is not a destructive method of catching 
fish is not one that confronts the Government at this time. It is not a theory, 
but a condition, that must be met. During the past season, as has been shown, 
the State of Washington issued 305 trap, S4 purse-net and 92 drag-net licences for 
the capture of these salmon, while under the Dominion regulations our fishermen 
were confined to the use of gill-nets, which are not suited to successful use in the 
clear waters through which the fish pass before entering the American waters. If 
the use of traps endangers the perpetuation of our Fraser River salmon fishery, 
then the Americans will soon have accomplished the extinction of these fish, and 
will have reaped the benefit. For the above reasons I believe that the use of traps 
in Juan de Fuea Strait and south of Discovery Island is justifiable. 
If traps are permitted to be used in the waters south of Discovery Island, the 
use of purse-nets should also be sanctioned, as very few of our fishermen are 
financially able to place traps. YVurse-nets, the use of which has become quite 
general and very successful on the American side, are not nearly so expensive as 
traps. It takes ten men to operate the kind of purse-net in general use, so that 
our fishermen could, by combining, enter the business and compete with the Ameri- 
eans who use the traps. 
T am not, however, at this time prepared to advocate the use of traps in any 
of the waters of the Province that are unaffected by the use of American traps. 
As a result of the agitation the Dominion Government gave 
permission to use trap-nets, purse-seines and drag-nets in Canadian 
water, but prohibited their use within three miles of the mouth of 
a navigable river, or within half a mile of the mouth of a salmon 
river. 
