REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 29 



beds, and as late as September 18 green fish in considerable numbers 

 weiv observed at the mouths of creeks tributary to the lake. The run 

 of salmon in Litnik River has shown a steady increase since the vol- 

 canic eruption in 1J)1-J, at which time it was practically destroyed. 



During October 10.000,000 eyed sockeye eggs ^yere forwarded to 

 Seattle. AVash., arriving there in excellent condition. From that 

 point 7.000,000 were diverted to the Quinault Lake hatchery and 

 8.000,000 were consigned to the State Fish and (lame Commission's 

 hati'hery at Bonneville, Oreg. In March a lot of 3,300,000 eggs 

 whose development had been retarded as much as possible was trans- 

 ferred by a steamer of the Pacific American Fisheries Co., to Ikataji, 

 Alaska, in c-harge of an employee of the Afognak station. The eggs 

 were incubated on trays in one of the buildings belonging to the com- 

 pany, and the resulting fry were liberated in May in tributaries of 

 Ikatan Lake. 



The total destruction of the retaining rack at Yes Bay by the 

 heavy drift brought down by the high water of September 17, the 

 sixth day of the spawning season, reduced the collection of sockeye- 

 salmon eggs at that station to the lowest point in its history, only 

 9,752.000 being secured. After the destruction of the rack, seining in 

 the river was continued up to September 24. but with unsatisfactory 

 results, as with no barrier to stop them the majority of the fish 

 passed upstream. The eggs obtained were of good quality and 

 hatched with a loss of less than 4 per cent. The output of the sta- 

 tion, including 8,628,000 fingerling fish carried over from the pre- 

 vious year, amounted to 12,678,000 sockeye-salmon fingerlings, and 

 at the close of the fiscal year 5,355,000 fish were still in the station 

 ponds. 



In addition to the fish-cultural operations outlined, a considerable 

 amount of construction and repair work essential to the proper main- 

 tenance of the station was undertaken. The importance of these re- 

 pairs has been apparent for several years, but because of their exten- 

 siveness it has not been possible to set aside from the appropriation 

 for salmon propagation a sufficient amount to meet the requirements 

 without curtailing seriously the fish-cultural part of the work. The 

 unsafe condition of the water-supply flume has long been the cause 

 of much worry, and as it appeared to have reached the full limit of 

 endurance at the end of the fiscal year 1919. it was decided to use the 

 regular allotment for installing a pipe line, a right of way having 

 already been surveyed, and thns gi^^e the station a water supply for 

 present needs, with ample reserve for future expansion of the hatch- 

 ery, and at the same time furnish power for a lighting plant. Six 

 thousand feet of woodstave pipe were obtained, and 2.300 feet of tres- 

 tle for carrying the pi]ie were constructed. The available funds were 

 not sufficient to carry the work to completion because of the prevail- 

 ing high prices of all material and labor, but the importance of fin- 

 ishing the project and of making other essential repairs at the 

 earliest possible date is indicated by the collapse during the winter 

 of more than 100 feet of the old flume. Because of the small number 

 of troughs required to accommodate the light collection of egirs. no 

 loss of eggs was occasioned, though the hatchery was without an ade- 

 quate supply of water for scA^eral hours. On account of the decayed 

 condition of floor timbers and foundation posts, a number of hatch- 



51700°— 21 3 



