Mr. DIMOND. Yes; I have noted there are identical resolutions adopted by the other unions.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there anything else, Mr. Carlson?

Mr. CARLSON. Not unless you have some questions.

The CHAIRMAN. We do not want to cut you off; you have come a long ways and some of these fellows who stay here talk too much.

Mr. CARLSON. I think I have covered the main points, and I have tried to bring them out as forcibly as possible.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, you brought it out pretty forcibly, I think. Mr. CARLSON. I thank you, then, for your kind attention.

(The committee thereupon adjourned until tomorrow, February 2, 1938, at 10 a. m.)

ALASKA SALMON FISHERY

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1938

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON THE MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES,

Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Schuyler O. Bland (chairman) presiding.

STATEMENT OF H. B. FRIELE, SEATTLE, WASH., VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, NAKAT PACKING CORPORATION

Mr. DIMOND. Mr. Friele, will you please state your full name, residence, and occupation, and your general experience in fishing in Alaska; then proceed to make a statement concerning your special knowledge of the Bristol Bay fishery and the invasion thereof by the Japanese operators?

Mr. FRIELE. My name is H. B. Friele, from Seattle, Wash. I am with the Nakat Packing Corporation, as vice president and general manager. Our company operates four canneries in Alaska, one of which is in the Bristol Bay section. My experience in Alaska goes back to 1916, when I started in as cannery foreman and, since 1925, in Bristol Bay.

In order to understand this bill, or this proposal, I would like briefly to explain the nature of the salmon, which Mr. Dimond has already covered. The salmon is born in Alaska in the rivers and in the lakes and, after it has reached an age of a year, or two, it migrates to the ocean and, after having spent another few years out in the ocean, it returns to the stream or river in which it was born.

The CHAIRMAN. That time that is spent in the ocean, the 2 yearsis that true of all salmon, or is not that length of time different as to the different species?

Mr. FRIELE. It is different as to each species. The red salmon does go to 3 years, but it is mostly 2 years; with the pink salmon, it is only 1 year.

The CHAIRMAN. Are they the only kind packed up there?

Mr. FRIELE. No; the principal kind of salmon we have in Bristol Bay is the red salmon-95 percent.

The CHAIRMAN. And what other kind?

Mr. FRIELE. And chum salmon, 5 percent.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the chum salmon?

Mr. FRIELE. There are very few king salmon, or pink salmon; very few.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the chum salmon? How do you distinguish that from the other?

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Mr. FRIELE. The chum salmon is the cheapest grade of salmon. The CHAIRMAN. Are those all the kinds that are found in Alaskan waters?

Mr. FRIELE. Yes. There are five species of salmon in the Alaskan waters. From the standpoint of value, there is the red salmon, the king salmon, the medium red salmon, the pink salmon, and the chum salmon.

The CHAIRMAN. Where are they found?

Mr. FRIELE. The red salmon is mostly found in the Bristol Bay area, although they are found all the way along the Atlantic coast; but, further south, as in southeastern Alaska, only 5 to 10 percent of the entire catch are red salmon. Pink salmon are mostly found in the southern part of Alaska, southeastern Alaska, and along the Alaskan Peninsula.

The CHAIRMAN: What do you mean by "southern part"?

Mr. FRIELE. That is the Panhandle-southeastern Alaska.

The CHAIRMAN. Now let us see from what point down, just to get it on the record so that those who study the record can take a map and locate where it is.

Mr. FRIELE. I may show you on the map here.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, pointing it out on the map might help me. But if you will designate it by some place, then any person can take the map, together with the record, and determine where it is.

Mr. FRIELE. The red salmon is mainly found here in Bristol Bay. The next place is here in the Shumagin Islands and on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula and over in Kodiak and Cook Inlet. Then there are a few red salmon, probably 5 to 10 percent, in Prince William Sound, in central Alaska, and here in southeastern Alaska. The pink salmon is mostly found here in southeastern Alaska.

The CHAIRMAN. And southeastern Alaska extends from what point? Mr. FRIELE. That extends from Cape Spencer down to the Canadian border. And pink salmon also are found in the central portion of the southern coast of Alaska, in Prince William Sound. Chum salmon are found in all sections of Alaska.

The CHAIRMAN. All right; go ahead.

Mr. FRIELE. I pointed out to you that the salmon were born in the rivers and lakes of Alaska, and then, after migrating, they return to their native spawning bed. I am pointing that out to you because you may, in a way, say that the salmon is an American citizen. It is born in America and it goes out and then returns. It is entirely different from other species of fish that you find in the high seas; they stay out in the high seas and do not come in within the Territory of Alaska. That is quite a difference with respect to the various other species of fish as compared to the salmon.

The fishing in Alaska has been pretty well outlined, and also the history of it, and I would like to touch for a few moments on the history of the fisheries in Siberia and Japan. Back in 1905, Japan made a treaty with the Russian Government, whereby they were allowed to utilize the fishery of Kamchatka on the Siberian coast. The Japanese developed those fisheries, and the Russians did not seem to take very much interest in it. In 1925, the Soviet Government agreed to renew these concessions to operate; but between the revolution and 1925 it was a kind of year-to-year proposition.

The Japanese constructed canneries on the shore off Kamchatka, but did not adopt any conservation measures, and shortly after 1925, or thereabouts, all of these canneries were combined into one large company under the Nichero Co., and the smaller packers were taken into that company. Later on, new packers went into the field and developed these floating canneries. The fishing grounds along the shore were pretty well taken up by the Nichero Co., so the new companies developed the offshore fisheries. They did that by stretching Îong nets in such a way as to make an artificial shoreline leading to the

coast of Kamchatka.

These floating canneries were quite successful and did cut into the salmon run to some extent, so the Japanese Government got worried about the situation and forced these companies to join or to combine with the Nichero Co. As soon as that was done, the floating canneries were taken off, or they were put out of commission-not all of them, but quite a number. So this left the Japanese with this idle equipment, these idle floating canneries. As you heard, for several years, the Japanese were utilizing Bristol Bay as a crab fishery and, while so doing, they got themselves acquainted with the possibility of the salmon fisheries in that area; and, with this idle equipment, they got the bright idea of transferring some of it to Alaska.

I am pointing that out to you because the Japanese have fished out their own country, their own fishing grounds on Kamchatka. They had hardly any conservation measures at all. And, after they fished their own grounds out, why then they turned around to our country, where we have adopted the wise policy of preserving our fisheries.

That takes it up to about the present time; but a year ago, last year, when the Japanese delegation came over to our country and requested meetings with the packers interested in Bristol Bay, this meeting was arranged and I attended it, and Delegate Dimond has read the statement they made to us at that meeting.

The CHAIRMAN. You say you were there?

Mr. FIELE. Yes; I was there. And before we went to this meeting, I notified two of the Alaska Fishermen's Union representatives, Mr. Louis Mostad and Mr. Harry Stuhr, to sit in with us, feeling that the interest we have in the fisheries there is also shared by our various union fishermen.

The meeting that we had with the Japanese representatives was quite unique, as you can see from reading their statement. They first told us how these four floating canneries were idle in Japan, due to others fishing in their own section and that they had to look toward new fishing grounds, and they thought we would be very pleased to have them come to Alaska. We explained to them we could not see it that way at all. Then they finally said, "Well, if we cannot put four floating canneries in there, how about putting in two?" We told them it was not satisfactory. They then came with a proposition, that we should form a joint corporation in which the Japanese would furnish the floating canneries, as well as the labor, and do all of the work, and the Americans would furnish the capital. We turned that down, of course, entirely, and told them we were not interested at all and we wanted them to stay out, and warned them not to come in.

That was the end of that meeting and we did not hear anything more from them. Then, in 1937, at the beginning of the season when

our cannery ships started to go north, they noticed an unusual number of Japanese fishing vessels in Bristol Bay. They first ran across them down here at Amak Island. That is down here, Mr Chairman [indicating] just as you come around Unimak Pass. That is where we noticed them first. And as the cannery steamers

The CHAIRMAN. Was that after this conference you had with them? Mr. FRIELE. Yes. The conference took place in February and this is now up toward the end of May, when the cannery ships, on normal run, go to Alaska. When our ships arrived there, they talked to the rest of the people along the coast line there, and they also reported an unusual activity of the Japanese this year.

We advised our Government here in Washington of these activities and the matter was taken up through diplomatic channels, and our Bureau of Fisheries and the Department of State were assured it was just the usual crab activities and also the fishing for ground fish-that is, flounders and cod fish. The method of fishing for them is with trawls. They scrape the bottom and take any fish that comes along. After that, they put them through a reduction plant and make fish meal and fish oil out of them.

These rumors kept coming in, that the Japanese were not fishing for crabs or ground fish, but that they were fishing for salmon.

Now I came to Alaska about the 23d of June and at that time, when I arrived in Bristol Bay, I found quite an agitation going on there and a lot of nervousness among fishermen, as well as local residents, as to the activities of the Japanese, as to what they were doing further down in the bay. Personally, I was somewhat reluctant to believe in these rumors, as I relied on the statements that came through from Tokyo, as well as from the Japanese Ambassador here, that salmon fishing by the Japanese was impossible, because they had issued them no licenses. Then the fishing started on June 25 and during the first week or 10 days the fishing was very poor. Normally the heavy run should start by the 1st of July.

The CHAIRMAN. You mean your fishing?

Mr. FRIELE. Yes; our fishing should start the 1st of July and if the run has not materialized by the 4th of July, we usually figure it is just going to be a bad run, or a poor season. Time went on until the 4th of July and there was no improvement, and one day some of the fishermen came in and asked me to come down and look at the boats and to look at the fish there. I did, and they showed me where an unusual number of fish had marks on the sides indicating they had been in contact with some other fishing gear. I asked the fishermen if that was the first time they had noticed it and they said "No; it has been that way ever since the season started." That to me was an indication there might be some truth in these rumors, after all.

The same noon an airplane came into our cannery at Nakeen_and I chartered it and went down along the coast to investigate and see what we could find. We flew on that first trip, Mr. Chairman, from Nakeen, which is up here at the head of Kvichak Bay, or the mouth of Kvichak River, all the way down here to Port Heiden. The weather, however, was so that we could not get a clear view of the bay; it was quite foggy out there and at no time did we see further farther than 10 or 15 miles off the coast. When we got to Port Heiden, that is about 150 or 160 miles, we had to return, because we did not have gas enough to allow us to fly any more. There are no gas sta