124 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The attention of the legislative assembly was not specially directed 
to this matter of protecting the fisheries, nor were laws enacted on this 
subject before 1885 ; and the present laws are in many instances primi- 
tive, imperfect, and inconvenient, according to the conditions of the 
country. One of the worst features is that in regard to seals, which 
are so injurious to the salmon fisheries. This is contained in section 4 
of the following statute. The defective point about this bit of legisla- 
tion is that in all salmon rivers (with one exception) and their mouths, 
where there are seals, there are also seal-catching places ; so that the 
law is of little or no benefit to the salmon, as it is forbidden to disturb 
the seals in the places where they are at all easily accessible. The 
statute referred to was passed February 19, 1886, and is as follows : 
u Section 1. It is unlawful to catch salmon in the sea, or in rivers or 
lakes, except during three months each summer. The county board 
shall in each jurisdiction fix definite rules as to the beginning and end 
of the fishing for that locality. During the season the salmon shall be 
entirely protected for thirty-six hours each week, from 9 p. m. Saturday 
to 9 a. m. Monday, during which time all salmon nets shall be taken up 
and all fishing apparatus be kept open, so that the salmon may have 
free passage. Nets so constructed that the salmon can not be entangled 
therein are to be considered as a fixed mechanical fishing apparatus. 
“ Sec. 2. It is illegal to set nets, dikes, or any other fixed fishing 
apparatus in a river farther out from the bank than the middle of the 
river ; and even this is allowed only if the other half of the stream is 
no less deep than the half through which the dike, etc., extends. If it 
is desired to set nets, or have dikes or other apparatus extend from 
both sides of the river, there must be an interval of at least 30 fathoms 
of the length of the river between the apparatus extending from oppo- 
site sides. If there is only one owner of the fishing rights in a river, he 
is allowed to use cross-dikes ; but if the river has affluents or separate 
arms, he is allowed to cross-dike only one of those arms, and this only 
when the setter of the dike is sole owner of the fishing right in that arm 
and when the salmon go in greater numbers up the other arms. 
“ Sec. 3. No one may set nets or other fishing apparatus out in lakes, 
or in the sea near the mouths of salmon rivers, in such a manner that 
the passage of the salmon is obstructed. It is allowed to use drag-nets 
in rivers only between 9 a. m. and 9 p. m., and in river mouths only 
before the shoaling of the fish at every other flood tide. Salmon may 
be caught by means of rods and lines, but not by stabbing instru- 
ments or spears. For scientific or breeding purposes salmon may be 
taken at any time of the year. 
* u Sec. 4. In rivers and their mouths where there are salmon, it is 
allowed to shoot or frighten seals with the restriction that the inviola- 
bility of breeding and seal-catching places, which are thus especially 
proclaimed, must not be infringed upon, except with the penalty of full 
damages, according to the estimate of good men nominated by the judge 
and sworn in court. 
