40 
BULLETIN OE THE UNITED STATES. FISH COMMISSION. 
peculiarities, so that it is difficult to ])rotect the fisheries by a general law, and it must 
be left to departmental regulations.* 
The first section of the present law, wherein it is stated ^‘or to fish for or catch 
salmon or salmon trout in any manner or by any means, with the purpose or result of 
preventing or impeding the ascent of salmon to their spawning-ground, is declared to 
be unlawful,” places the whole matter in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury. 
The second section, relating to the weekly close season, should in my opinion make 
no exception in any district. The plea is probably made that in the districts exempted 
the fish are taken in gill nets, which permit some fish to pass all the time; but if this 
is the plea it is a mistake. Every cannery in Bering Sea and Cook Inlet uses traps 
besides gill nets, and is there any reason why traps should be used at those places 
during the weekly close season and not at Chignik? In Prince William Sound neither 
traps nor gill nets are used; all fish are taken in seines — yet it is exempt from opera- 
tion of the close-time provision of the law. The fisheries in this locality are on the 
same footing as those in southeast Alaska, except that gill nets are used in Ohilkat 
and Taku inlets and at the mouth of the Stikine. If the exception is made on the 
gill-net plea, then the law should provide that “all canneries obtaining their fish by 
gill nets exclusively ai’e exempt.” If the excej)tiou is made on account of a short 
fishing season, it might hold good for Bering Sea, but in no other place, though I 
should 1)6 opposed to any exemption. The run of redfish in Cook Inlet and Prince 
William Sound is for a long period, and in fact for a longer period than in the 
southeast Alaska district, and on these pleas there is absolutely no reason for 
exempting those places. 
The time of the weekly close season should by all means be changed so as to 
include Sunday. As it stands, it was no doubt intended that the canneries should 
pack the Friday’s catch on Saturday and be closed on Sunday. If the law were 
observed it would permit the Chinese, who know no Sabbath, to rest on that day, 
while the white fishermen and Indians would be obliged to work on that day. We 
send missioTiaries among the Indians and teach them to keep the Sabbath, and then 
enact laws which compel them to work. Mr. Duncan, at Metlakahtla, states that his 
Indians do not fish during the close season on account of the law, and would noton 
the Sabbath on account of his teachings, and the law therefore bears hard upon that 
community. 
The first part of section 2 might as well read so as to make it unlawful to take 
salmon in any river or stream above tidewater, with the exceptions given in the act, 
for the reason that there are no fisheries in Alaska, so far as I know, above tidewater 
in any river or stream over 500 feet in width. This section would, however, be very 
much improved if “tidewater” were stricken out and the section made to read “in any 
of the rivers, streams, or estuaries less than 600 feet wide,” and then the last provision 
*Tho bill making ajipropriatioiis for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year 
ending June 30, 1897, contained the following provision: 
“ For the protection of the salmon fisheries of Alaska, under the direction of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, seven thousand dollars, to be immediately available : Provided, That in lieu of the three 
inspectors whose employment is authorized by the act of June ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, 
there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, one 
agent at a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum, and one assistant agent at a 
salary of two thousand dollars per annum.” (Statutes 55th Cong,, Ist sess., chap. 2, 1897, p. 29.) 
The sundry civil bill for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, appropriated the same amount for 
the protection of the salmon fisheries, without specifying the salaries to be paid. 
