As in the case of fish hauled from Bonneville 

 Dam and held in the dirt pond, length measure- 

 ments are taken and data recorded regarding 

 disease, injuries, and condition of eggs. 



Rearing Program 



Diets . — Artificial rearing of spring chinook 

 salmon has been undertaken at many locations, 

 with varying degrees of success. Disease 

 and/or dietary deficiencies are thought to be 

 the major causes of poor results. 



Various diets have been fed spring chinook 

 salmon reared at Carson hatchery. Because 

 of the many changes in specific items and 

 quantities of each component used, it is impos- 

 sible to correlate effect of any one diet or 

 ingredient with success or failure of a given 

 year's rearing program. Disease problems 

 encountered further confuse the picture. Per- 

 haps at conclusion of the transplantation pro- 

 gram it may be possible to correlate adult 

 returns with the fingerling feeding program 

 and incidence of disease. At the present time 

 the young spring chinook salmon are first fed 

 the conventional "wet feed". When the fish 

 have reached approximately 300 per pound, 

 they are fed a commercially prepared dry 

 feed. 



Losses occurring during the rearing pro- 

 gram are given in tables 4 and 6. 



Disease problems and treatment during rear- 

 ing period. — The 1,256,000 1955 brood-year 

 spring Chinook salmonat Carson hatchery were 

 infected with kidney disease, two apparent virus 

 diseases, white spot, infections of acid-fast 

 bacteria, Myxosporidia, THchodina hexamite, 

 and several other external parasites. By 

 August 1956 many fish were light-colored 

 and popeyed. Ponds were treated with Sulfa- 

 merazine and Gantrisin, but no reduction in 

 mortalities could be detected. Since it was 

 impossible to curtail the losses, 911,700 fish 

 were released in early October. The remainder 

 were retained for over-winter rearing. Mor- 

 talities were experienced through the winter, 

 and in April 1957 the remaining fish (55,600) 

 were released. In subsequent years kidney 

 disease has been the worst disease problem 

 encountered. Treatments with Sulmet at 1- or 



2-gr. level (1 or 2 grams of Sulmet per 100 

 pounds of food fed), however, appeared to 

 check the infection. At first evidence of external 

 parasites Pyridylmercuric acetate has been 

 used, with excellent results. 



Fry resulting from eggs collected from 

 adult spring chinook salmon returning to Wind 

 River in 1960 displayed symptons of coagulated 

 yolk disease. This was also true of fry 

 resulting from eggs taken from adults trapped 

 at Bonneville Dam in the same year. 



Samples of adult spring chinook salmon 

 trapped at Bonneville Dam and of those re- 

 turning to Wind River have been examined for 

 acid-fast bacteria (tables 7 and 8). 



Counting at Shipperd Falls Fishway 



The Shipperd Falls fishway trap was in 

 operation intermittently during 1955-58 (fig. 5). 

 First spring chinook salmon recorded was in 



1956, when 10 fish were observed (table 9). In 



1957, one fish was observed. First returns 

 of 1955 brood-year fish were expected in Wind 

 River in 1958 as 3-year-old fish. In this year 

 spot counting was done by Washington Depart- 

 ment of Fisheries and 26 fish were recorded 

 (fig. 5). There were numerous reports of 

 sportsmen catching 3-year-old spring chinook 

 salmon above and below Shipperd Falls fishway 

 in 1958; however, there are no reliable data 

 upon which to calculate total return of this 

 group of fish. None of the fish returning in 

 1958 entered the Carson hatchery ponds. 



Counting at Shipperd Falls fishway was not 

 conducted in 1959. There were, however, 

 reports of spring chinook salmon caught in 

 Wind River above the falls. Full-time counting 

 was conducted at the fishway in 1960 and 

 1961, and 854 and 1,032 fish, respectively, 

 were recorded. 



Spawning Grovmd Surveys of Wind 

 River 



Because of the reported poor condition of 

 1955 brood-year finger lings, there were no 

 surveys conducted in 1958, when adults would 

 first return as 3-year-old fish. The count of 

 26 salmon at Shipperd Falls fishway indicated 

 that some fish did return. 



10 



