360 U. S. BUEEAU OF FISHEEIES 



tion. The results of these surveys will also be a means of indicating 

 which of the tributaries are suitable for transplanting or restocking 

 projects. 



The program for the investigation also calls for studies of the life 

 history, habits, and homing instincts of the several species of salmon. 

 All of these facts must be known in order to conserve the fishery 

 properly. 



During the period from July 1934 to January 1935, inclusive, a 

 large number of catch records have been collected and their analysis 

 carried forward with the aim of preparing a report on the indices of 

 abundance of the chinook and sockeye salmon from 1905 to the 

 present time. 



The stream-survey parties, although handicapped by adverse 

 weather conditions during a great part of the time while in the field, 

 have covered parts of the Wenatchee, Entiat, Methow, and Okanogan 

 River systems as well as Wenatchee, Silver, and Osoyoos Lakes. 



PUGET SOUND SOCKETE SALMON INVESTIGATION 



The activities of this investigation in 1934 were continued on the 

 basis of the previous year's program. Thousands of sockeye salmon 

 fingerlings from the Birdsview hatchery were marked by the removal 

 of two fins and liberated in each of three creeks tributary to the 

 Skagit River, The object of this experiment w^as to determine some- 

 thing concerning the mechanism of the homing instinct in the sockeye 

 salmon. If these fish are attracted to a stream by some property of 

 the water in which they were reared they should enter that stream 

 no matter whether they have traversed it before or not. On the 

 other hand, if they return by some sense of geographical location 

 they should return to the stream in which they were liberated even 

 though they left it immediately. 



With this theory in mind, 10,000 marked sockeyes were liberated in 

 Bacon Creek, 10,000 in Day Creek, and 10,000 more in Diobsud Creek. 

 All of these streams are tributary to the Skagit. Two ent^r this 

 stream above Grandy Creek, where the fish w^ere reared, and one 

 below Grandy Creek. Different marks were used for each group of 

 fish, and these fish were liberated at their natural time of migration. 

 If it becomes evident that sockeyes will not return to a stream in 

 which they were liberated at their time of migration and which they 

 immediately left, additional experiments will be performed to find 

 for what length of time it is necessary to hold fish in a stream in 

 order that they become imbued with the urge to return to that 

 stream. 



Approximately 14,000 sockeye fingerlings were marked and lib- 

 erated at the Quilcene hatchery. These fish were transferred from 

 the Birdsview hatchery in the eyed e(i:g stage. The marking was 

 for the purpose of determining whether or not sockeyes will return 

 to Quilcene, which is not a sockeye stream, after being reared there. 

 The returning adults will be detected in the commercial catch in 

 Puget Sound and so provide a check on their survival if none appear 

 at Quilcene. 



