EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 101 



1. Barricades of all kinds in all streams and lakes should be pro- 

 hibited, except for iish-CLiltural purposes. 



2. In lakes and in streams of the second class — namely, those under 

 500 feet in width and having a tributary lake — no fishing- should be 

 allowed at any time except with rod or spear or gaff, unless for 

 hatcher}^ purposes. 



3. No trap or pound net, floating or fixed, should be permitted 

 within 1 mile of the mouth of any stream less than 500 feet in width, 

 and flowing from a lake or having a lake tributary to it. In the case 

 of each stream of this class, the Bureau of Fisheries should mark in 

 some conspicuous way the point above which fishing with nets would 

 not be allowed. Until so marked no fishing should be permitted 

 within 100 j'ards of the point of discharge of such stream at mean low 

 water. 



4. The problem of the use of traps in the large streams and their 

 estuaries is a most diflicult one. If we are to consider the ultimate 

 interests of Alaska and the permanence of her salmon fisheries, no 

 traps should be allowed anywhere. They are most harmful where 

 most successful, especially in the flowing streams. The traps in Wood 

 River, and probably those in Kussilof River also, ought to be removed; 

 those in Chignik Lagoon should at least be limited in number. But to 

 remove the traps from those waters would practically close up the 

 canneries depending upon them for their supply of fish; where traps 

 or pound nets are allowed, a special permission and a special license 

 should be required for each, and each should conform to the following 

 provisions: No trap should be nearer than 100 yards to any other, and 

 no trap should extend more than one-third the distance across the 

 stream, estuary, lagoon, or arm of the sea in which it may be placed, 

 and no net of any kind should be set which at the time of setting is 

 within 100 yards of a net set b}^ another person, firm, or corporation. 



5. A weekly closed season should be provided, extending from 6 

 p. m. Saturday to 6 a. m. Monday, for all portions of Alaska, except 

 in Bering Sea and its tributary waters. 



6. All matters pertaining to the salmon and all other fisheries of 

 Alaska, including the fur seal and sea otter, should be placed in the 

 hands of the Commissioner of Fisheries, under the Secretary of Com- 

 merce and Labor. The personnel of the Bureau of Fisheries should 

 be correspondingly increased, and means provided in the way of 

 vessels for travel, to render effective the inspection of the fisheries, 

 the investigation of the streams, and the operation of the hatcheries. 

 The necessity for expert service, if this inspection is to be maintained, 

 is self-evident. It demands a knowledge of the fishes, of the fisheries, 

 of fishery apparatus, methods, and products, of statistical methods, 

 and the methods and results of fish culture — different kinds of expert 

 knowledge which can not often be in the possession of one man. 



