CONFERENCE ON SALMON PROBLEMS 



99 



Lake, there have been by the Bureau of 

 Fisheries something like 200,000,000 eggs 

 and young planted within the last 30 years 

 and the fish have never in any number 

 come back to any stream except the Baker 

 River. Do you refer to Birdsview as evi- 

 dence of homing? 



Dr. Rich. The fish run in there, and we 

 counted them; there were many marked 

 salmon in that tributary. 



Dr. Ward. Wlien the temperature was 

 lower they went in there and made a run of 

 salmon in that stream, but only when the 

 water was colder than in the Skagit. 



Dr. Rich. I think you will find that there 

 are fish there every year. 



POST-SMOLTS AND CONDITION FACTOR 



Dr. Huntsman. The post-smolts about 

 one pound in weight are captured regularly 

 at the extremity of the St. John outflow 

 at the time of the year (September) when 

 presumably they have stopped feeding. 

 Also, as Dr. Belding indicates, they are 

 taken at the mouth of Gaspe Bay and in 

 Minas Channel at the head of the Bay of 

 Fundy. I am not certain of the time of 

 year for Gaspe, but in Minas Channel they 

 are taken at the end of the season only. 

 The order in which the various sizes are 

 taken is perhaps of significance. You have 

 the fishery starting early in May with the 

 very biggest salmon that have spent three 

 years or more in the sea. These are re- 

 placed gradually by two-sea-year fish, then 

 by grilse and finally by post-smolts. What 

 is the significance of this order? 



It is perhaps of importance that the gear, 

 in which the salmon are captured in Minas 

 Channel, consists of weirs which take all 

 sizes down to post-smolts. This is unusual. 

 It is somewhat similar for the St. John 

 where weirs are fished around the outskirts 

 of the St. John outflow. They take all sizes 

 of salmon but very few of the large salmon. 

 They do take very large numbers of post- 

 smolts, but only late in the season in Sep- 

 tember. They seem to occur in as large 

 numbers as could be expected in relation to 

 the river. They must definitely live there 

 to occur at that time of the year. 



The interpretation of these facts, that I 



think is desirable, invoWes two points : 

 First that the salmon are feeding there in 

 the sea and that perhaps at the end of the 

 season they stop feeding, roam about, reach 

 shore and are captured in the weirs; sec- 

 ond, it seems that under certain conditions 

 at least the largest and fattest salmon cease 

 feeding earliest in the season, then the 

 grilse and finally the post-smolts. Capture 

 in the weirs seems to represent the cessa- 

 tion of feeding. The larger they are, the 

 fatter they are, and the earlier in the sea- 

 son they cease feeding. Post-smolts are 

 not mature, so that this phenomenon is 

 apart from sexual maturity. 



Dr. Belding. On what do you base your 

 figures, the length, weight, chemical ex- 

 amination of the tissues or the coefficient of 

 condition ? 



Dr. Huntsman. The condition factor. 



Dr. Belding. There are numerous fac- 

 tors which affect the condition factor or 

 coefficient of condition. For instance, if in 

 a series of salmon you calculate the condi- 

 tion factor from the average length and 

 weight you get a different figure than if 

 you take the mean of the condition factors 

 of the individual fish. There are variations 

 in the form of salmon and in the number 

 of vertebrae that affect the coefficient of 

 condition. I have found a difference as 

 great as two vertebrae between the parr of 

 certain rivers. 



Mr. Menzies. The difference in condi- 

 tion is due to the vertebral count ? 



Dr. Huntsman. There are many com- 

 plexities of course. Nevertheless this is 

 merely a statement of fact and I find it 

 correlated with the presumed cessation of 

 feeding as shown by captures in the weirs. 

 I put this up as a possible interpretation of 

 the order observed. 



Mr. Menzies. We do not seem to have 

 the same order in Europe. 



Dr. Huntsman. The condition described 

 is not universal. If you ask the fishermen 

 of the Margaree coast which come first, they 

 say all kinds, no earlier capture of any par- 

 ticular size. In Minas Channel the condi- 

 tion is particularly well shown probably 

 owing to the heavy tides mixing the water 

 up thoroughly, all fish being exposed to the 



