710 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Table 4. — Fraser River sockeye fishing regulations 
Fall season 
Opening 
Closing 
(?) 
(?) 
Sept. 25 
Sept. 25 
Sept. 25 
Sept. 25 
Sept. 25 
Sept. 16 
Sept. 16 
Sept. 16 
Oct. 31 
Oct. 31 
Oet. 31 
Oct. 31 
Oct. 31 
(?) 
Oct. 7 
Sept. 31 
Sept. 16 
Sept. 31 
Sept. 16 
Oct. 31 
Oct. 1 
Oct. 31 
Year 
Closing 
summer 
season 1 
Week end closed 
season 
General 
Between 
bridges 1 
Remarks 
Before 1878. 
1878-81 
1882-87..., 
1888 
1889-92.... 
1893 
1894-1900. 
1901 
1902 
1903 
1904-07... 
1908 
1909 
1910 
1911 
1912-14... 
1915 
1916 
1917-20... 
1921 
1922 
1923-24... 
1925 
1926-27... 
1928 
1929 
1930 
1931. 
1932. 
1933. 
1934. 
(?) 
Aug. 25 
Aug. 31 
Aug. 25 
Aug. 31 
Aug. 25 
Aug. 31 
Sept. 6 
Aug. 31 
Aug. 25 
Aug. 25 
Aug. 25 
Aug. 25 
Sept. 31 
Aug. 25 
Sept. 31 
Aug. 25 
Sept. 31 
Sept. 6 
Sept. 22 
Sept. 30 
Nov. 21 
Sept. 30 
Sept. 30 
Nov. 30 
Sept. 20 
Sept. 29 
Sept. 30 
Sept. 30 
Sept. 15 
Hours 
" 40" 
40 
40 
40 
40 
36 
36 
36 
36 
36 
42 
42 
42 
42 
42 
42 
3 42 
42 
42 
42 
42 
42 
42 
48 
48 
48 
Hours 
No regulations. 
No gill netting above tide water— must 
not obstruct over one-tbird of chan- 
nel. 
Nets 5£6-inch mesh, minimum. 
Nets 150 fathoms maximum length. 
Nets 60 meshes maximum depth. 
Nets 5%-inch mesh. 
Mesh limitation abolished. 
Nets 200 fathoms permitted outside of 
river. 
Purse seining Aug. 25-Sept. 30. 4 
Purse seining Sept. 1-8 and Oct. 1 -27. 
1 Closing dates of summer season 1882 to 1903 partly from cannery pack records, opening date July 1 at least as early as 1894. 
8 Fraser River between New Westminster and Mission bridges. 
• 54 hours weekly closed season during fall of 1916. 
4 Purse seining in area 17, see map. 
Changes in Location of the Canneries 
At first the gill-net fishing was conducted inside the river, chiefly from New 
Westminster to Sumas and beyond, a distance of over 50 miles from the river mouth. 
At times the canneries received shipments of sockeye that were caught by the Indians 
with dip nets in Yale Canyon, near Hope, a distance of nearly 100 miles from the 
river mouth. The first canneries, as a consequence, were located at New Westminster. 
Meanwhile the fishermen had discovered that it was possible to make large 
catches in the lower river and the canneries found it advantageous to be closer to 
these fishing grounds. Consequently the first down-river cannery was built on 
Deas Island in 1876, followed by a second in 1878, and a third in 1880. In 1882 
two more were built in this area, as well as one each at Steves ton and in the North 
Arm. 
The Indian fishermen did not have good boats for fishing outside the river, 
although they -went out at least as far as the sandheads. In 1885 we find the Do- 
minion Report suggesting that the distance between gill nets, while drifting over the 
sandheads outside the river, should be increased from 250 to 400 yards. That they 
did not, as yet, venture far from the river mouth is attested by the Dominion Report 
