vessels appeared in Bristol Bay, allegedly for crab fishing, the sus- 
picions of American fishermen who feared an invasion of the salmon 
fisheries were arousea. When the United States Government telegraphed 
the Unbassy at Tokyo it was informed that "no license had been issued 
for salmon fishing in Bering Sea, and Japanese vessels reported to be 
operating near Alaska are presumably engaged in crab fishing." Neverthe¬ 
less during the summer it became clear that Japanese vessels did catch 
salmon and throughout the season feeling ran high in the fishing circles 
of Alaska. 7/ 
Throughout the fall fishing interests actively protested the Jaj>- 
anese operations and in November 1937 the State Department fully stated 
the case in a note tc Japan. In March 1938 the State Department announced 
that the Japanese Government had given assurances that salmon fishing by 
Japanese in the Bristol Bay area would be curtailed, that the three-year 
salmon fishing survey would be discontinued and that the Japanese Govern¬ 
ment would "continue to suspend the issuance" of licenses for salmon fish¬ 
ing in Bristol Bay. 
May 1933 brought wild excitement among the Pacific Coast fishermen 
when Japanese fishing boats appeared in Bristol Bay. 8/ Just prior to the 
7/Several fishing companies and union representatives chartered a plane 
which took pictures of Japanese vessels in the process of catching salmon. 
One vessel was reported with "20,000 freshly caught salmon" aboard. 
8 1 To fully understand and appreciate the American case in this Japanese 
"invasion" one must realize the importance of salmon to the Pacific Coast 
area and the long years of development and conservation of this resource 
by the American Government. Salmon constitutes the single largest economic 
resource of Alaska. Over a period of years the United States Government 
has spent large sums to conserve the salmon fisheries and by adherence 
to a policy of conservation, highly productive fisheries in perfect balance 
have been achieved. The fishermen of the Northwest who had felt the 
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