What
are some of the problems and dangers that Uncle Cyrus would face as a Fish Trap
Watchman?
Sometimes the huge “Pacific American Fisheries”
Company (P.A.F.) had a problem with “fish pirates”. Fish pirates were actually fishermen who
worked for other, smaller canneries and fishing boats. They were angry with the
huge P.A.F. because the P.A.F. owned most of the fish traps and caught most of
the fish. The fish pirates felt that
wasn’t fair. Sometimes the fish pirates bribed the fish trap watchmen who
guarded the fish traps. They gave the
watchmen money. In exchange for the money, the P.A.F. watchmen allowed the fish
pirates to steal fish from the P.A.F. fish traps. The fish pirates always stole
the fish in the middle of the night, when it was dark.
Then the fish pirates sold the stolen fish on the open
market.
Once in a while, the fish pirates tried to take the fish by
force. The trap watchman was sometimes threatened, injured and even killed by the
night pirates. Some of the fish trap watchmen had to buy a gun for
self-defense, and to scare the fish pirates away. Usually, though, the
pirates would leave if the watchman made himself visible. The watchman could
usually fool them into leaving by coming out to meet them when he heard them
coming in the middle of the night, and warning them that “the other trap man
inside the trap shack has a mean temper, and he doesn’t like trap pirates!”
Another problem that fishermen faced was the fact that fishing was not a dependable source of income. 
One year there might be a huge run of salmon, but the next
year there might be very few salmon. A fish trap that earned $10,000 one year
might earn nothing the next year. Some
fish traps caught tons of fish every year, but other traps caught very few
fish. The fishermen on the gillnet
boats and purse-seine boats faced the same problem. One year they might catch tons of fish, but the next year they
might catch very few fish.
Image Credit: Microsoft ClipArt Gallery