SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



THE DOG SALMON 



occurs very abundantly in the small rivers and creeks of the islands and the main 

 land. It makes its appearance at Kadiak about the middle of June and continues 

 abundant for a month, after which the numbers rapidly diminish. It leaves the coast 

 with the first appearance of ice. The flesh of this species will hardly ever be in 

 request for canning, but it is one of the most important species to the natives, who 

 dry it for winter use. 



REPRODUCTION. 



The species of salmon above enumerated, though differing in their seasons of 

 reproduction and in their spawning habits and requiring different conditions and envi- 

 ronment, are all subject to the constraint of one common law — they must have access 

 to their natural spawning grounds in the rapids of the rivers or in the cold snow-fed 

 lakes from which they issue — and in this natural law is to be found the suggestion of 

 such legislation as may be necessary " to maintain the salmon fisheries under perma- 

 nent conditions of production." 



We must provide that reproduction, natural or artificial, shall be on such a scale 

 as will compensate for natural waste and man's destructive agencies. This may be 

 accomplished in several ways : First, by legislation prescribing and enforcing such 

 regulations in the conduct of the fisheries as will permit the salmon to enter the rivers 

 and ascend to their spawning grounds in sufficient numbers to maintain the supply 

 by natural reproduction ; second, by the artificial fertilization and hatching of eggs 

 taken from salmon caught for the supply of the canneries and the distribution of the 

 fry thus obtained to the streams and lakes, which are the natural feeding grounds of 

 the young salmon for some months after hatching. 



Existing legislation concerning the protection of the salmon dates from the Fiftieth 

 Congress and provides for the accomplishment of the first of these objects in the act 

 following : 



[Public— No. 158.] 



An act to provide for the protection of the salmon fisheries of Alaska. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

 assembled, That the erection of dams, barricades, or other obstructions in any of the rivers of Alaska, 

 with the purpose or result of preventing or impeding the ascent of salmon or other anadromous species 

 to their spawning grounds, is hereby declared to be unlawful, and the Secretary of the Treasury is 

 hereby authorized and directed to establish such regulations and surveillance a3 may be necessary to 

 insure that this prohibition is strictly enforced and to otherwise protect the salmon fisheries of Alaska; 

 and every person who shall be found guilty of a violation of the provisions of this section shall be fined 

 not less than two hundred and fifty dollars for each day of the continuance of such obstruction. 



Sec. 2. That the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries is hereby empowered and directed to institute 

 an investigation into the habits, abundance, and distribution of the salmon of Alaska, as well as the 

 present conditions and methods of the fisheries, with a view of recommending to Congress such addi- 

 tional legislation as may be necessary to prevent the impairment or exhaustion of these valuable fish- 

 eries, and placing them under regular and permanent conditions of production. 



Sec. 3. That section nineteen hundred and fifty-six of the Revised Statutes of the United States is 

 hereby declared to include and apply to all the dominion of the United States in the waters of Behring 

 Sea ; and it shall be the duty of the President, at a timely season in each year, to issue his proclama- 

 tion and cause the same to be published for one month in at least one newspaper if any such there be 



