ration. Some success has been achieved in the fur farming
of fisher and marten which, as indicated, have been in short
supply.

So far, all reindeer ventures are in the Eskimo area, and
these natives have shown a capacity to make a success of
reindeer herding. The fact that caribou have been locally
extirpated in the Mackenzie Delta region made the good
ranges there available for reindeer. In Siberia, some
reindeer are herded in semi-wooded, mountainous country
far south of the true Arctic tundra, and it is thought that
there may be suitable reindeer country of this type east
and west of the Mackenzie River and in Yukon. The
reindeer, aS presently domesticated, cannot survive untended
on caribou range. It is not known whether Indians would
make good herders or not, but the possibilities of reindeer
husbandry in the more southern mountainous sections ought
to be explored.

Big game is an important resource and its conservation
is a highly important function. At present, almost the
whole North Pacific area is well supplied with big game in
its season—perhaps better than most other parts of Canada.
While the number of elaborately and expensively organized
“dude” parties has greatly decreased and this class of
sporting activity seems to be dying out, the interest of the
sportsman of moderate means and modest sporting ambitions
remains. Not least and certainly most welcome is the
growing army of camera sportsmen and sportswomen.

Subsistence hunting is the only hunting that need be
considered in the control of the game population. So
long as the kill can be controlled within the bounds of
depletion danger, subsistence hunting is desirable, not only
from a dietary viewpoint in the prevention of deficiency
diseases among the inhabitants, but because diseases which
occasionally reduce or decimate big game herds always
result from an excessive number of animals.

The only predatory animal of importance is the timber
wolf. In primitive areas, they live on only the surplus
of big game animals and do not normally cause depletion.
In management areas, their activities give cause for concern,
as do their depredations on traplines.

This, with the high price for their fur, provides incentive
for their destruction, which, nevertheless, appears to have

little effect on the wolf population. This continues to
follow the lines of its natural fluctuations.

The limits of exploitation of wildfowl resources are
established by The Migratory Birds Treaty, and the
regulations for their protection are promulgated annually.
The conservation of wildfow!l in the North Pacific Region
Presents few problems. Northern Alberta and the
Mackenzie District contain some of the most important
breeding grounds on the continent, but the kill of water
fowl in these far northern sections is a small fraction of
that which takes place farther south in Canada and in the
United States. As an example of how one conservation

measure promotes and supports another, the development

3681—23

—_—

of breeding grounds for muskrat and beaver conservation
is highly favourable to the waterfowl.

The North Pacific area probably contains the nesting
grounds of the remaining Canadian trumpeter swans and
may contain the nesting areas of the few whooping cranes
that still survive. These breeding grounds should be
located and protected. Should these species become extinct
in circumstances that suggest failure in the protecting of
their nesting grounds, it would reflect on Canadian con-
servation policies.

The existence of cider colonies in considerable numbers
around the mouth of the Mackenzie River, with conditions
there favourable for cleaning the down, suggests the
possibility of an eider-down industry in that locality.

Wild life conservation policies should be developed
on the following lines:

1. Protection of outstanding areas to provide nuclei
where all faunal elements may be preserved and
tourist needs met, and where scientific observation
would be unimpaired by local disturbances.

2. Protection, under close management, of wild life
subsistence resources to the end that they may
serve primarily the needs of the population, especi-
ally native families depending almost entirely on
game for food.

3. Management of all beaver and muskrat areas.

4. Integration of forest and wild life conservation in
fire prevention and control.

5. Continuous biological investigations of the wild life
subsistence resources of the entire North Pacific
Region.

6. Investigations looking to the restoration of fine fur
animals in the present beaver areas of northern
Alberta and southern Mackenzie.

7. Investigations leading to the development, under
management, of the many muskrat marshes through-
out the Northwest region, looking also to areas
favouring the stocking of beaver.

Fisheries

The fisheries of the North Pacific Coast of North
America represent one of the great food resources of the
world. Their potentialities, under wise and careful adminis-
tration, are immense. Practical recognition by the two
neighbouring nations, who substantially share this resource,
and the necessity of collaboration in the regulation of their
North Pacific fisheries, have set a world pattern of inter-
national co-operation. Joint control has been accomplished
through the agencies of their two commissions, the Inter-
national Fisheries Commission, organized for the regulation
of the North Pacific halibut fisheries and now nearing its
twentieth year of operation, and the International P.
Salmon Fisheries Commission,
rehabilitate and devel
Fraser River.

acific
created more recently to
op the sockeye salmon fishery of the

119 }