58 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



the entrance of humpbacks into the creek prevailed during the sockeye 

 run, otheiwise larger results would undoubtedly have been recorded. 

 In the spring, several sockeye salmon, from 6 to 10 inches in length, 

 were taken in the creek. Another shipment of 225,000 eggs was sent 

 from Quuiault station in order to continue the plantings in Puget 

 Sound. 



Low water curtailed the chinook-egg collections in the Puget Sound 

 region, but hatching results were good, the fry taking food more read- 

 ily and developing more rapidly than any other species. The steelhead 

 run was late, but nearly as many eggs were collected as last year, and 

 over a million were transferred to Maine and other points eastward. 

 The take of silver-salmon eggs was 2,000,000 in excess of last year. 



At Baker Lake the sockeye-egg collections numbered 5,445,000, sur- 

 passing the previous year by 2,000,000. An unusual occurrence was 

 the fact that about 22 per cent of the eggs could not be fertilized, 

 though the fry resulting from the fertile ones wore normal. The 

 silver-salmon eggs were infertile to a somewhat greater extent. A 

 battery of troughs was set up outside the hatchery for the rearing 

 of fry. All fish were fed to some extent prior to releasing them. 

 AU chum and silver salmon fry at Darrington station were reared to 

 the feeding stage. There was an increase in the aggregate egg col- 

 lections of cliinook, chum, silver and steelhead salmons at Iltabot 

 Creek station, but at Day Creek a falling off occurred. AU eggs at 

 the latter point were transferred to Birdsview for hatching. At 

 Sultan station a washout reduced the egg collections. AU fry at this 

 point were fed prior to release. A slougli pond, 150 by 4 feet in area 

 and 1^ feet deep, was constructed, and used with excellent results 

 for holding and feeding young fish. 



At Duckabush station there was an unusuaUy small run of chum 

 salmon, and as trouble was experienced from log jams, at least half 

 the run of chum and aU the silver salmons escaped capture. At 

 Brinnon station, though conditions were like those at Duckabush, 

 increased coUections of silver and cliinook salmons eggs were made, 

 despite the fact that unlawful purse-seine fishing was conducted 

 below, for wliich some of the fishermen were convicted by State 

 authorities. Most of the steelhead run at this station escaped when 

 the rack was washed out in May or when log jams prevented fisliing. 

 The work at the Duckabush and Quilceno stations was greatly facili- 

 tated by the purchase of two motor trucks during the latter part of 

 the fiscal year. 



An interesting item in connection with the work at this field was the 

 result attained from feeding in the so-called slough pond, an arm of 

 the Walcotts Slough, wliich was screened to exclude enemy fish. 

 All the salmon fry hatched at Brinnon, and the younger specimens 

 of fish forwarded from Duckabush and Quilcene, were placed in tliis 

 pond and fed regularly. They made a rapid growth and the losses 

 were slight. They were aUowed to pass out at will, the meshes of 

 the screen bein^ large enough to permit their escape. The chum 

 salmon left the slough at the end of four or five weeks, although they 

 had in almost every case been fed for about the same length of time 

 in troughs or cement ponds before their transfer to the slough. The 

 chinook and silver salmons remained for a longer period and left 

 the slough in a body. 



