708 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
In 1903 the records for one cannery show that their 25 white fishermen all used 
round-bottomed boats while their 66 Indian fishermen used 36 round-bottomed boats 
and 30 skiffs. Since the Japanese all fished on contract no record was kept of their gear, 
but it is safe to assume that all of their boats were round-bottomed, as they were 
very progressive fishermen. Among 3,096 licenses issued in 1903 only 477 were for 
Indians, 2 and it is therefore evident that the transition from skiffs to Columbia River 
boats was almost complete. After 1905 the records of this company show no skiffs 
in use. 
The introduction of motorpower in gill-net boats, to replace oars and sails, took 
place soon after the turn of the century. According to old-timers on the river, gasoline 
engines were used as early as 1902, although only a few were in use until a decade 
later. Thus records of one of the largest canneries on the river, located at Steveston, 
show very few gasoline boats in 1909 and 1910. From then on, however, the number 
increased rapidly and large numbers of engines were installed in 1911-13. By 1914 
the change appears to have been almost complete. The data have been insufficient 
to measure the increase in efficiency brought about by the adoption of engines, but 
such an increase existed and should be remembered when comparing the catches of 
the earlier years with those made during and after the World War. 
Changes in the Gill Net 
The gill-net fishery on the Fraser River is remarkable for the few changes that have 
taken place in the net itself over a long period of years. There has been no change 
of any consequence in the length of the net, and the deep nets, used for only a few 
years, were confined to a small percentage of the fishermen. 
In 1882, when the Richmond cannery was built on the North Arm, the nets 
used in that section of the river were 27 and 30 meshes in depth, 150 fathoms in length, 
and of 5%-inch mesh, according to Charles F. Todd. 
The Government regulations that went into effect May 1, 1894, provided for a 
maximum length of 150 fathoms. Rathbun (1899) says that although there was 
no restriction upon their depth, custom fixed it at 50 to 55 meshes, though some were 
shallower. In the years 1903 and 1905, the men fishing on shares for the Imperial 
cannery used a total of 8 nets of 40-mesh depth, 101 of 45 meshes, 37 of 50 meshes and 
1 each of 55 and 60 meshes, placing the average at less than 50 meshes. The records 
for these years do not give any indication of the depth of the nets used by the Japanese, 
who formed over 40 percent of the fishermen on the river. 
Testimony as to the depth of gill nets is given in the Interim Report of the British 
Columbia Fisheries Commission (Report of the Fisheries Commission for B. C., 
1906, pp. C18-C40), in which one witness, a canneryman, stated: 
This summer I had over 20 boats of Japanese fishing in the river, and there was not one of them 
with a net of less than 80 meshes. 
The same witness says later: 
It is only 8 or 10 years ago that the fishermen commenced to use these extra deep nets * * * 
I think it is only 4 or 5 years ago since 80-mesh nets were common. 
i This figure does not include Indians that may have fished on the 343 company licenses. 
