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“No matter where you live or what your business may be, if you are a citizen of Oregon you must of necessity be interested in this bill, the object of which is to conserve and perpetuate the public’s fish – your fish – and to restore to the people the legal right to share the benefits of the fishing industry.”

“Under the laws of this state the fish in the public streams belong to the people, who, as proprietors thereof, have the absolute right to say when, where and by what method and by whom their fish shall be taken. But a few wealthy and powerful individuals have succeeded through enactment of special privilege laws, in virtually appropriating the right of the public fishery to themselves, to the exclusion of the rest of the citizens of this state.”

“These few men have now a practical monopoly of the fishing industry on the Columbia river, and they control it almost as effectively as though the state had deeded to them the river itself”

“The appliances used by these monopolists are known as fish wheels, the most deadly and effective fishing gear ever devised – and which is prohibited on every stream in the civilized world except the Columbia river.”

“Its passage will allow the escapement to their natural spawning grounds and to the hatcheries of the Columbia of between two and three million pounds of royal spring chinook salmon per year – an escapement which will treble or perhaps even quadruple the annual salmon run on this river.”

“This will mean employment to thousands more of individual fishermen and will add millions more annually to the wealth of the state.”

“The fact can not be successfully contradicted, that, under the present fishing regulations on the Columbia river, there is not enough seed fish escaping to build up or even maintain the run. This being true, it is essential, in order to protect the interests of the state, that changes be made to the salmon fishing regulations.”

“The operation of a fish wheel is an exclusive privilege. It is a license to take fish from a particular place in a public stream to the exclusion of every other citizen of the state.”

“There is neither excuse nor necessity for the operation of a fish wheel. Immediately below the fish wheel is a stretch of water 150 miles long and from one to ten miles wide, on which there is enough room for all the citizens of the state, who wish to engage in fishing, to participate”

“There are 59 fish wheels on the Columbia river… (which) are permitted by special privilege laws of the state to take fully 85 per cent of all the fish taken above tidewater, and employ not to exceed 25 men in their operation on the average.”

“While the fish wheels are a destructive factor from the fact that they prey upon the early run of royal chinook salmon, the drag seines are also a serious menace to the fishing industry for the reason that they take of tons of silverside salmon and steelhead trout.”

“The elimination of drag seines, which operate above the Cascade locks during the low water season, would be of especial interest and value to the sportsmen of the state, in that it would permit hundreds of thousands of pounds of the gamey steelhead trout to ascend the stream to spawn and afford wholesome and profitable sport to the hook and line enthusiasts, as well as to the man or woman who goes out to catch a luscious fish for the table.“

“As to the argument that the elimination of fish wheels will give gill-netters a monopoly of the industry, it is only necessary to repeat that the gill-netters operate in a stretch of river 150 miles long and from one to ten miles wide, and that every citizen of the state is privileged to engage in this kind of fishing. A monopoly under these conditions is an absurdity.”

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