These reserves were created
to “conserve fish,” said O’Malley,
Und by executive action because
there was no “adequate law,” the
necessity being urgent because
’‘depletion was already far ad
vanced.” And yet, whereas in the
good years of 1916 to 1919, Lib
by, McNeil and Libby at Kenai
had an average pack of 28,432
cases, Mr. O’Malley in the name
of Mr. Hoover gave this company
a permit to pack 40,000 cases in
1922. It actually packed 14,611
that year.
I had long supported a bill be
fore Congress giving the Depart
ment of Commerce full power to
handle the situation. Although
O’Malley would commend my
-proposals privately he refused to
assist in passing the bill because
he said his department was an
executive department and not a
legislative department. But that
did not prevent his department
• from causing a bill to be introduc
ed legalizing the reserve system.
The Bureau wants the power to
• say who shall fish and where. Our
proposals agreed with theirs in
everything except that point;
for to submit there was to sur
render our right to live in Alas
• ka into the keeping of a despot
with the usual result that his
tory shows accompanies all des
* potisms.
You say that “about 1924 it be
gan to be borne in on more and
more people that something
would have to be done about it.
The realization existed at first
in the minds of a few conserva
tionists, but the impression
spread among the public at large
and was increasingly entertain
ed by more enlightened cannery
men.
You would do well to read my
speech before the Committee on
Merchant Marine and Fisheries
of January 17, 1922, on H. R.
2394 which would enlighten you
on the situation that had devel
oped three years prior to your
date of 1924. In that speech I
made historical proof of the
, facts of depletion which up to
that time had been denied by
the Bureau of Fisheries, who at
tempted to prove their conten
tion by citing the fact that the
total pack was either increasing
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or remaining stationary. If yoi
are going to write more on fish
eries you should get that docu
ment because it has withstood all
the assaults of the 'Bureau oi
Fisheries and their allies, the
big packers Except for addition
al facts, my conclusions publish
ed therein remain the same.
The White Fish Law was op
posed most bitterly by Mr. Hoov
er and Mr. O’Malley because they
wanted the blanket power to say
who should fish, where and when
they should fish, a power which
they had already usurped under
their reserve system and had al
ready abused. (See hearing on
H. R. 2714 of Jan. 31, Feb. 1, 6, 7,
and 8, of 1924).
You have stated a great truth:
“Its sole aim (the Bureau oi
Fisheries) was to aid the can
ners.” They have done so by
making the regulations for fish
ing such that the form of gear
used by the canners is the only
gear that is now effective. You
know the canners are almost the
exclusive owners of flshtraps,
whereas the residents of Alaska
(of whom the Natives form a
large part) use mainly seines.
With the publications of the Bu
reau of Fisheries as my author
ity, I say this: that whereas the
percentage of the seine catch
has been reduced 38 per cent to
25 per cent since 1923 to 1928, the
percentage of the trap catch
mas ueen increased irom 0/ per
I cent to 71 per cent; but the
I proof of O’Malley's discrimina
tion against the residents of
Alaska and his deceit in the use
of the term “conservation” is in
this—in the years 1914 to 1919,
“war years,” of admitted over
fishing, the average case pack
was 5,215,332, whereas the aver
age case pack for the years 1924
to 1928, a time when O’Malley,
now clothed with full power by
Congress, had issued many regu
lations which you yourself are
praising highly and which result
ed in the above decline of seine
fishing and increase of trap
fishing, was above decline of
seine fishing and increase of
trap fishing, was 5,209,177—with
in 14,000 cases of the war years.
The answer is this—THERE HAS
BEEN NO CONSERVATION. And
the “sole aim” was indeed “to aid
the canners” for nobody else has
been aided.
Your quotation that somebody
told you that Mr. Hoover “is out
to ruin the country and to de
prive every honest man in it of
a chance to make a living” is a
trick of writing that a writer of
your class should not use. The
people of Alaska do not believe
that, and if some individual told
you that, you should not dignify
it and give the reading public
an idea that such a sentiment
is general. What we do believe
is this—that Mr. Hoover does not
know anything about the situa
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hi
tion but relies entirely on what
■Mr. O’Malley tells him.
J Where does Henry O'Malley
;come in? I can only guess about
his responsiveness to the wishes
of the “big interests,” but my
guess is borne out by the fact
rhat he pleases certain ones.
However it may be that Mr.
O’Malley is really doing the best
he can uninfluenced by any big
interests. If that be true, then
the record is all against his ef
feciency even if we go no farther
than your summary. O’Malley
was given full authority in 1924,
and yet you charge him with be
ing so derelict that in spite of
the imminence of depletion in
1924 (see his own statements in
the hearings on H. R. 2714) he
did nothing until 1927 although
“the industry went blithely on
building more boats and more
traps and generally preparing
to eat further into its fast di
minishing capital. * * * The pack
leaped to the impressive total of
more than 6,500,000 cases. * * *
That was a year of greatest ex
pansion, and at the same time
a tremendous falling off in the
average catch per unit of gear.”
Whereupon you say “Mr. Henry
O’Malley, of the Bureau of Fish
eries, promptly countered this
situation by what he himself de
scribes as ‘a drastic curtailment
in fishing.’ ”
Did he really counter, Mr.
White? Or are you, too, among
the fooled? If he countered,
why doesn’t it show in the pack?
The pack was over 5,200,000 cas
es, a ten per cent reduction from
1927, not at all due to regulations
covering the big packer but to
regulations touching the resident
seiner, together with a falling
of the run of that year.
What were these “curtail
ments” of 1927 that you speak
about The regulations of 1928
do not indicate any such thing.
But the regulations of 1928 show
ed “drastic curtailments” all
right. These, however, only af
fected the resident seiner, who
having been driven from his fish
ing grounds was compelled to
fish in the trap areas, and there
upon began the trap method of
fishing, namely, with a hook-off.
The hook-off is the device of ty
ing one end of the seine to the
shore (like a trap lead) and thus
forcing the travelling fish to
school whereupon the “purse”!
is completed. Mr. O’Malley j
promptly prohibited this device,
although he did nothing about j
the trap’s hook-off, an identical'
device.
You speak about Mr. O’Malley
as being “open minded and flex
ible changing his regulations in
stantly when new information
convinces him that the change
is for the better.” If that is true,
you have discovered something
about Mr. O’Malley of which no
body else has heretofore had a
hint.
In 1928, O’Malley stood on
Demmert’s dock in Klawock and
saw one million salmon in the1
bay when the stream was so full I
of fish that not another one
could enter. It was evident that
none of the salmon in the bay
could spawn, for during that en
tire summer the Klawock river
had been kept packed to capac
ity. O’Malley could have per
mitted a half rpiilion to be pack
by simply directing the stream
watchman to move the “Mark
ers” back 500 yards. Ke told
Demmert that the line should
be moved back, but he did noth- 1
ing. The same thing happened
in Harris Creek and many oth- -
er places. It was repeated in the ]
fall of 1929. I will go no further (
nto this phase of the matter ex
cept to say that I could multiply
examples and show you many ex
imples of discrimination, un
fairness and tyranny that was
lot contemplated by the Con
fess that gave O’Malley unlim
ted power. One example will:
ufFice. Many times his ward
ns in following out their in
fractions have arrested seine
A
t
r
t
t
F
1
boats on suspicion and under
threat that the boat would be
confiscated the owner would con
sent to pay a fine of about $400
and enter a plea of guilty to un
lawful fishing. Such was the
Peer Gynt case, the Kotor case,
the Vivian June case, the Du
brovnik, the Veribus and Over
| the-Top cases, and many others
j wherein the crews were absolute
i ly innocent. But who would not
pay a fine of $400, when to stand
on a plea of “not guilty” would
mean the loss of the entire fish
|ing season for that year since
an admiralty action would entail
ustthat? Then when Mr. Suth'
erland introduced a bill in Con
gress to require the Bureau of
Fisheries to obtain a verdict of
guilty against the crew BEFORE
proceeding against the vessel,
Mr. O’Malley told Mr. Sutherland
that he, Mr. O’Malley would
fight the bill. We have good pre
cedent for asking for this bill
aside from our proof of the abuse
of the present law, namely, that
it is the practice in the Prohibi
tion cases. If the Bureau would
proceed against the individuals
I first, these men would stand
| prompt trial in the justice court,
j and of course, the innocent
would be freed, to the detriment
| of the many “convictions” now
gracing the record of vigilant
fish wardens.
But let us move to the funda
mentals of fishery legislation on
which I have said Henry O’Mal
ley is wrong.
The problem is not correctly
stated by Mr. O’Malley.
He says his job is to conserve
| the fisheries.
We insist that the problem of
statesmen is to conserve fish and
j people.
But going to the matter of his
fundamentals, what are they?
They consist of (1st) the closed
season; (2) permanent closed
areas; (3) spacing of fish traps
of one mile and one and one
half miles; (4) curtailment of
seines, gill-nets and trolls.
As to the first, I antedated ev
en Dr. C. H. Gilbert in saying
that “if you breed late fish, you
will get late fish.” Experts may
have no respect for my learn
ing or experience, but I am proud
to say that I made this state
ment even before Dr. Gilbert’s
statement of October, 1923 in
the Pacific Fisherman. In that
issue Dr. Gilbert presented the
very same reasons that I had
although I am willing to grant
.hat undoubtedly he had not
heard of my utterances before
the Alaska legislature of 1923
(March and April) when I op
posed the closed season vigor
ously.
The facts now bear me out,
that I was right.
Mr. O’Malley admitted to me
that he did not have full confi
fidence in that system and that
perhaps I was right. I am right.
Whereas we formerly fished as
early as June 15th, today nobody
complains when fishing is pro
hibited until July 10th. Indeed,
the Natives in their late conven
tion recommended that fishing
be closed until August 1st of each
year in Southeastern Alaska.
This consequence of the seasonal
method of conserving fish is so
well recognized here now that I
will not go into more proof. It
will astonish you (that is, if you
know as much about our fishing
conditions as you claim in your
irticles) to learn that BRIGHT
nnk salmon were running on the j
West Coast of Prince of Wales 1
island as late as October 1st of ]
ast year—an unheard of occur
nce.
As to the fall closing, I cannot
:o into that at this time except '
o say that I can easily prove to ^
ny experienced canneryman *
hat protection afforded the fall 5
un of salmon is futile. At first I
his sounds impossible, but really p
3 men who are acquainted with q
ACTS, the proof is easy. i
(2) Permanent closed areas. S
his device is on the theory that *
when the fish get past all the
fish traps, they should be allow
ed to play around the streams
and go up in peace.
But I ask you, is the result just
to us residents?
I fished in Salmon Bay and
with other crews therein, never
exceeding five of late. We aver
j aged 2,000 sockeye per season, so
that our total would be 10,000.
j About one mile down the chan
| nel from us, the famous Pt. Col
poys fish trap would catch up
i wards of 300,000 red salmon per
| season. I ask you this, why
j should I be compelled to give up
j niy little 2000, or all of us give
up our 10,000 salmon and no bur
: den at all placed on that big
| trap which was so efficient that
j now nobody fishes at Salmon
| Bay. Mr. O’Malley still allows
! the Pt. Colpoys trap' to fish
while Salmon Bay is closed.
To Be Continued
TRANSFERRED TO HAINES
U. S. Deputy Marshal C. J. Sul
livan, for the past three years
stationed at Tenakee, has been
j transferred to Haines to fill the
position formerly occupied by
the late Marshall Sherman. No
appointment has been made by
Marshal White to fill the vacan
cy at Tenakee.
THE LITERACY TEST *
-X
It might be well Icr the Juneau
Association of Federal Employees
and their henchmen and allies,
j to give their party vote the once
over.
Out of 257 votes in the Demo
cratic primary five were spoiled.
Out of 4,29G Republican votes,
which include others, were only
a dozen or so spoiled votes. Why
the difference.
-x
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A recent ruling of the Appel
late division of the supreme court
of New York, is to the effect that
I the sidewalk radio loudspeaker is
!a nuisance when it disturbs the
■ repose, comfort and health of a
1 neighborhood.
| Emanual Hellner, proprietor of
a Brooklyn radio store, who had
been fined $200 on a charge of
maintaining a nuisance, appeal
ed the case with the above result.
-x
! ..Elections should be elections
! and not auctions.
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