34 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
1 box of tin Avill make only 9^ cases, at which rate it will take 109 boxes of tin to 
1,000 cases. 
There is a rebate of 99 per cent of the duty on imported tin used on the export 
pack, but under the present ruling every box must be accounted for, and it is said 
that under these conditions only about 75 per cent is realized on account of the inability 
to account for the disposition of every box. 
The boxes in which the canned salmon is packed in Alaska are mostly made in 
Puget Sound and carried up in shocks. The cannery at Metlakahtla turns out its 
own boxes, and the sawmill in Tongass Narrows, operated by Metlakahtla Indians, 
supplies Loriug and Wrangell. As lumber can not legally be exported from Alaska, 
there is only a small local demand for the product of the sa wmills. 
DEPLETION OF STREAMS. 
When a jierson interested in a cannery is questioned regarding the decrease of 
salmon iu Alaskan waters, he is likely to assure you at once that there are just as 
many salmon in the streams as there ever were, and begins his proofs by citing years 
like 1896, Avhen there was a large run of redfish iu Alaska; but any disinterested 
authority on the subject will say that the streams of Alaska are becoming depleted. 
While it can hardly be said that the streams will fail entirely within a few years, there 
is no doubt that the average runs show fewer fish year by year, and if the laws are 
not amended and enforced, the time will come iu the not very distant future when the 
canneries must suffer through their own actions. 
It is a difficult matter to furuish convincing proofs to those who do not wish to 
be convinced, and any argument may fail with those who are interested commercially. 
It is also difficult to establish proof by statistics, because accurate stream statistics, 
as a rule, can not be obtained; and, as to packs, the canneries have multiplied in 
numbers, and many of them have been so enlarged that no comparison can be made. 
The causes of the depletion are the barricading of streams and overhshing; iu other 
words, illegal fishing. 
In the examinations of the various streams, as outlined iu the following pages, all 
resources have been exhausted to obtain data showing their past and present condi- 
tion. It must be evident to anyone referring to the records of the streams that they 
are furnishing fewer fish than formerly, in spite of the improved gear and appliances. 
The results of barricading are illustrated iu such streams as Karta Bay, Naha Bay, 
Yes Bay, Klawak, Redoubt, and many others in southeast Alaska; in the streams of 
Prince William Sound district, ou Afognak Island, and at Chignik. The illegal obstruc 
tion of streams by barricades is more apparent in southeast Alaska than elsewhere 
because the streams are small, there are many of them, and they are easily closed; 
but from all reports made to me, even by cannerymen, the district of Prince William 
Sound is and has been more heavily barricaded in proportion than southeast Alaska. 
The following may be some evidence bearing ui)on the subject of depletion : Taking, 
for instance, a section of southeast Alaska, Iroin Behm Canal and Prince of Wales 
Island south aud east, iu 1889 four canueries were operated, viz. Boring, Burroughs 
Bay, Ketchikan (burnt that year, but packed 13,000 cases), aud Yes Bay. In 1897 
four canneries also operated, viz. Boring, Yes Bay, Metlakahtla, aud Quadra. In 1889 
the packs were made from the streams near the canneries — that is, from the “ home 
streams” — aud nearly all were redfish, with a few cohoes and probably very few hump- 
