REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 57 



ration consisted in soaking in running water for 24 hours, removing 

 skin and bones, and grinding. It was next placed in boiling water, 

 which caused the flesh to granulate, and was then reground. When 

 granulated by the boiling-water treatment a greater proportion is 

 eaten, whereas when the raw flesh is reduced to a fine state by the 

 second grmdmg a large part, in the form of a milky fluid, is lost when 

 put into the water. The fry are fed from six to eight weeks, and 

 released only when it becomes necessary to provide feeding space for 

 more recent hatchings. 



At Litnik Lake 25,310,000 humpback-salmon eggs were collected 

 between August 1 1 and September 11. At Seal Bay 3,010,000 of this 

 species were obtamed and more were in sight, but collecting had to 

 be discontiimed in order to reserve space for redfish eggs. At Uganak 

 Bay when 10,730,000 had been taken all space was filled and collec- 

 tions were necessarily suspended. Late in October all these eggs were 

 transferred from the field stations to Afognak hatchery and the aux- 

 iliaries were closed. In the course of the season, a transfer of 

 16,000,000 humpback-salmon eggs was made to Seattle, Wash., half 

 of them being destined to Puget Sound stations and half to stations 

 in Maine. The 19,343,000 humpback fry produced at Afognak were 

 held as long as possible, but owing to lack of room it was necessary 

 to plant them prior to sac absorption. Most of them were released 

 in the river below the lake and were widely scattered so that they 

 might settle in crevices between the rocks covering the river bed. 



Although the run of red salmon in the vicmity of Yes Bay station 

 was commercially far below that of the preceding year, a good col- 

 lection of eggs was made. Although the number secured was not as 

 lai-ge as in the previous year, when 72,000,000 were taken, the figures 

 of the average year were surpassed by several millions. 



While facilities for rearing were limited, more than 800,000 fuiger- 

 lings were produced and liberated in the coui-se of the season and 

 785,500 were being held at the end of the fiscal year. From 58,000,000 

 eggs collected, mainly in September, 49,600,000 fry were liberated, 

 and 2,000,000 eyed eggs were supplied to the Oregon State hatchery 

 at Bonneville. The salt-solution process was employed for the re- 

 moval of dead eggs. 



The combmed output of fingerling salmon from the Washington 

 stations was above 37,000,000, while upward of 3,000,000 additional, 

 in process of rearing, were carried over into the new fiscal year. 

 SteeUiead fmgerlings released numbered nearly 4,000,000. Egg col- 

 lections at these stations were generally successful, though diminished 

 because of the off year for humpback salmon. A feature at Birdsview 

 station was the taking of 38,000 humpback-salmon eggs. This species 

 has heretofore visited these waters only every second year, and this 

 appearance in Grandy Creek can not be regarded otherwise than the 

 result of the Bureau's effort to establish an annual run by the transfer 

 of eggs from Alaska. Conditions were most xmfavorable during the 

 humpback run, Grandy Creek being at a low stage, and the water 

 spread out over the wide gravelly bar at the creek's mouth, making 

 it difficult for fish to enter. No eggs were taken at any other Wash- 

 ington station, although fishermen, noting their off-year appearance, 

 made reports from various places which indicated the taking of quite 

 a number. Alaska humpback fry, the product of 4,000,000 eggs, were 

 again introduced hi this stream. The same conditions that hampered 



