CONFERENCE ON SALMON PROBLEMS 



95 



the type of flood. If you get a medium or 

 small flood with a clearing between, up will 

 go the fish. Say a month or six weeks dry 

 weather and the river water gets foul with 

 algae. It comes down foul and the fish will 

 really not start to run until the water is 

 clear. Rainfall is not nearly as good as 

 water volume. The water may not go into 

 the river if the weather has been dry. 



Dr. Belding. The first stage of onshore 

 migration is when the salmon approach the 

 coast. Some fish may enter rivers near the 

 point of appearance while others may move 

 along the coast for hundreds of miles, their 

 distribution becoming successively more and 

 more localized. 



At times salmon, such as the fish originally 

 tagged at Port-aux-Basques and recaptured 

 in Labrador, do not appear to conform to 

 the general distribution of their fellow 

 salmon. 



In the Miramichi drift-net fishery tagging 

 we found a fairly wide spread but neverthe- 

 less a localized range, confined to the east 

 coast of New Brunswick and the Bay of 

 Chaleur. In the case of the tagging at 

 Grand Greve, Gaspe, the distribution was of 

 the same general type as obtained by Dr. 

 Huntsman at Margaree Harbor, in that the 

 salmon spread in both directions along the 

 coast with a noticeably local range. In other 

 words, coastal tagging shows distribution at 

 the particular point and laterally in either 

 direction. 



Mr. Menzies. They might possibly go 

 back and be caught in their own river — fish 

 within 50 miles of the river of their destina- 

 tion. 



Dr. Huntsman. The behavior just de- 

 scribed by Dr. Belding for the Margaree, 

 Miramichi and Gaspe districts is, in contrast 

 with that at Port-aux-Basques, related to 

 river influence, that of the St. Lawrence 

 River, whose water passes out along the 

 southern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 Along this side the salmon after liberation 

 spread, but stay in the St. Lawrence in- 

 fluence. 



Dr. G. Prefontaine. For the St. Paul 

 River near the Strait of Belle Isle in 1937, 

 salmon tagged up the river went out and 



lower down. They were captured moving 

 out. 



Mr. Menzies. When was the tagging 

 done? 



Dr. Prefontaine. In June. 



Mr. Menzies. The movement was back 

 and forth as in your description. 



Dr. Belding. "We have coined the term 

 "pocketing" to designate the effect of con- 

 ditions such as in St. George Bay in New- 

 foundland, where the number of recaptures 

 is far in excess of the commercial catch. It 

 appears that the salmon from Port-aux- 

 Basques remain for some time in this area, 

 which because of its physical characteristics 

 may act as a way station for salmon ulti- 

 mately bound elsewhere. 



Dr. Huntsman. This condition is com- 

 parable with that in Scott's Bay on the 

 south side of Minas Channel, Bay of Fundy. 

 There is the same pocketing of the salmon. 

 But there is this difference, you have rivers 

 emptying into Bay St. George, Newfound- 

 land, but Scott's Bay in Minas Channel has 

 no rivers. 



Dr. Ward. This conference has brought 

 out, more distinctly than was evident in my 

 previous communications, the fact that I 

 have been working along a very different 

 line from others who have spoken. I have 

 stayed away from salt water. I have spent 

 all of the time devoted particularly to my 

 own observations and experiments studying 

 the live fish after they were definitely in 

 brackish water. 



I have been interested to determine en- 

 vironmental factors that influence the move- 

 ments of the fish and my conclusions do not 

 agree with the views held by many distin- 

 guished friends of mine. 



I believe that the fish are determined in 

 their movements by the environmental con- 

 ditions; in other words, their movements 

 are conditioned movements. Among adult 

 salmon having embarked upon their course 

 in fresh water we have to deal with prob- 

 lems that involve a more limited range of 

 choice in movements than is presented in 

 ocean waters. My observations have been 

 principally directed to the Pacific salmon, 

 and especially to the sockeye salmon which 



