34 FISHERY AND FTJR INDirSTRIES OF ALASKA IN 1912. 



had no influence on the number of adult fish in the stream. The 

 first two seasons not all the fish were spawned and the average, 

 33,000, is too small. It is not improbable that 40,000 would be more 

 nearly correct. This would indicate either that the fishing during 

 the years 1897 to 1900 was light or that an unusual number of fish 

 from other streams entered the Naha for spawning. 



Weighing all the evidence, it seems most reasonable to conclude 

 that in the main the average run reaching a given stream is the product 

 of that stream; that normally the fish return to the place of their 

 birth, but that, due to adventitious causes, schools at times are 

 diverted and enter other streams. In this way both the permanent 

 depletion of given streams, as at Hetta, and also the extraordinary 

 runs, as in the Naha in 1906 and 1911, may be accounted for. There 

 is no evidence that sockeyes once entering a lake to spawn return to 

 salt water. If there were no inherent tendency to return to the home 

 stream the distribution would be more irregular, the streams near 

 the ocean would be filled to overflowing, or else, on the contrar}'-, the 

 congestion would occur at the head of the passages. If this instinct 

 were absolutely controlling there would be no such fluctuations as 

 are noted in Bristol Bay. Now, the remarkable fact to be noted is 

 that in the Naha with a closed stream the increase in the run for the 

 first four-year period is not gi-eatly over 50 per cent, and in the 

 second Uke period it has actually fallen off. In other words, after 

 12 years of protection and artificial propagation, a season occurs in 

 which no more fish enter the streams than did the first year the 

 stream was closed. This does not prove the liatching operation 

 a detriment, for no better results were attained on Letnik stream, 

 which was closed for many years without a hatchery. 



Yes Bay in 1912, as nearly as can be estimated, produced about 

 100,000 redfish; in 1911 about 150,000; in 1910 about 200,000; in 

 1909 about 150,000; and in 1908 fewer than 100,000. There is 

 little doubt that the run in this stream and that in the Naha are 

 closely related, perhaps interchanging more or less. Considering 

 the two streams together, the sum of the runs for each year from 

 1908 to 1912, inclusive, is, respectively, 120,000, 210,000, 235,000, 

 260,000, and 125,000. The catch at these two streams at the period 

 of their original productiveness indicates that they should produce 

 in the neighborhood of 100,000 each, so that from 1909 to 1911 we 

 may adduce that their natural resources were quite fully restored by 

 the restricted fishing and the hatching operations. 



To go beyond the natural product brings in new factors. No 

 doubt the primary factor is food. The sockeye, like the other red- 

 meated salmon, is known to divide as to the habit of the young; one 

 portion remains in fresh water for a year, the other goes to salt 

 water soon after reaching the swimming stage. As sho^vn by Dr. Gil- 

 bert (p. 9), out of 625 Fraser Kiver fish examined only 35, or about 



