CHAPTER 8 



The Salmon Fisheries 



Walter V. Yonker 



Salmon has long been used as a food by man, as evidenced by wall 

 carvings found in caves in France which date back to 12,000 years ago. 

 This salmon was probably the ''Atlantic" salmon (Salmo salar) which is 

 prized as a game fish in western Europe and the eastern United States 

 today. The ''Atlantic" salmon also was the first salmon used in commerce 

 in western Europe and the eastern United States as fresh, salted, and 

 smoked salmon. In 1839 small amounts of this species of salmon were 

 canned in New Brunswick, Canada. 



The potential of the United States salmon industry was first recognized 

 in 1852 when William Hume started fishing for salmon in the Sacramento 

 River in California. George and William Hume established the first 

 salmon cannery on the West Coast of the United States on the Sacramento 

 River in 1864, and in 1866 the first cannery was built on the Columbia 

 River at Astoria, Oregon. The first salmon cannery was established in 

 Alaska at Klawock in 1872. 



Commercial Species of Salmon 



There are five species of salmon occurring on the Pacific Coast of the 

 United States, Canada, and Alaska. These, and a sixth species, occur in 

 eastern Russia and northern Japan. These areas constitute the major 

 fishing for commercial salmon in the world. These salmon are all of the 

 genus Oncorhynchus which are hatched from eggs in streams or lakes and 

 migrate to and live their adult lives in the ocean, returning to the same 

 stream in which they were hatched to spawn. 



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