SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 
3 
This act, though authorizing and directing the Secretary of the Treasury to estab- 
lish such regulations and surveillance as should be necessary to insure that the pro- 
hibition would be enforced, neither prescribed the machinery nor appropriated the 
means to carry it into effect. Some restraint has doubtless been imposed upon 
attempts at violation of the law where they are likely to come under observation, but 
it is probably violated without hesitation or scruple where the chance of discovery is 
casual or remote. 
STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES. 
The immense take of salmon in the estuary of the Karluk Eiver in 1887 and 1888 
had the additional result of attracting attention to a field promising such extrava- 
gant returns for the capital invested. More than 30 new canneries were estab- 
lished during the season of 1889. Five were located on the sand-spit at the mouth of 
the Karluk Eiver, and 3 others so near as to draw their supplies from that source. 
Over 350,000 cases of red salmon, representing 4,000,000 of fish, were taken from this 
insignificant rivulet in 1889, and sent into the markets of the world. During this 
season there were 36 canneries in operation in Alaska, and the value of the salmon 
pack amounted to $3,375,000. 
The following table, showing the Alaskan salmon pack from 1883, when systematic 
canning operations were first instituted, to 1890, after they had probably reached 
their largest development, is very interesting as well as suggestive; interesting, as 
illustrating the wonderful wealth of the waters; suggestive, because we know that it 
has been accomplished by irrational and destructive methods, and by improvident, 
willful, and contemptuous disregard of natural laws, whose aid and unobstructed 
operation are essential to the maintenance of a continuing and productive salmon 
fishery in Alaska. 
, The Alaska salmon pack from 1883 to 1890. 
Tear. 
Number of 
Tear. 
Number of 
cases. 
1883. 
36, 000 
45, 000 
74, 850 
120, 700 
1887 
190, 200 
298. 000 
675. 000 
610, 747 
1884.. 
1885 
1889 
1886 
1890 
A review of the statistics of the salmon pack of Alaska from 1883 to 1890, com- 
piled from data gathered by the Division of Fisheries of the U. S. Fish Commission, 
shows that the total yield of the salmon fisheries of this region from 1883 to 1890, both 
inclusive, was 2,050,497 cases of 48 pounds each, representing an aggregate production 
of 28,706,958 salmon within the period mentioned. During the first three years the 
pack was small, viz, 36,000 cases in 1883, 45,000 cases in 1884, and 74,850 cases in 1885. 
After this the increase in production was phenomenal, and in 1889 had reached the 
enormous amount of 675,000. Production in the subsequent years receded slightly, 
but the aggregate for 1890 and 1891 did not fall much short of the pack of 1889. Of 
the entire Alaskan yield, about one half is taken from the estuary of the Karluk Eiver. 
Adding the product of 1891 to the aggregate for previous years, we have a total yield of 
canned salmon since 1883, when regular canning began, amounting to nearly 2,750,000 
cases, and a total value of $11,000,000, 
