REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 33 



Experiments were coiKlucted to nscertaiii the value of seal liver 

 as food for yoiin<i- salmon as compared with other foods in <:;eneral 

 use. At the elose of the year there was no apju'eciahle difference in 

 the size or eondition of the lish receiving; the seal-liver diet, as com- 

 pared with other lots feeding; on }X)rk liver and fresh fish. 



The usual work of rescuin<i: salmon and trout finrjerlinfis from poolr^ 

 that become dry durin«r the summer was taken up in July and 

 Auirust. and upward of lO.OOO finaerlinjis of the silver salmon and 

 blackspotted trout were taken and returned to deep waters. At the 

 close of the fiscal year there remained on hand at the station 1,500,000 

 sockeye fin<rerlin«2:s. 



An outstanding featui'e of the .sahnon work in the Oref^on field 

 was the successful rearing- of an increased number of chinook salmon 

 to the finoerlino; stafje. The output of chinook fin<!;erlin<^s from the 

 Columbia River stations, includinjrr 75,000 retained at the end of the 

 year for marking-, exceeded 29.000,000, all of them bein<i- of Xos. 2, 

 2^. and 3 fiii<rerlin<i: size. Another interestin»j: point in connection 

 with this work was the very satisfactory outcome of experiments in 

 the use of frozen salmon egjrs for fish food. Approximately 13,000 

 pounds of tlie immature spawn of salmon taken by commercial fisher- 

 men w'ere purchased' from local canneries at 5 cents per pound and 

 held in cold storatje at Portland for use as needed. In preparinfj it 

 for feeding- to the young salmon, the frost was extracted by sub- 

 merging it in cold water for a few hours, after which it was cooked 

 in a double boiler for two and one-half hours, being stirred at fre- 

 quent intervals while cooking. Salmon ivy receiving a regular diet 

 of this material, with an occasional meal of beef spleen, made more 

 rapid growth, were more vigorous, and suffered less mortality than 

 any lot of fish previously reared in this region. The cost of the eggs 

 is more than that of salted flesh of the spawned-out salmon, which 

 has been used so extensively at all of the Pacific coast stations, but its 

 demonstrated superiority as a food for young fish would seem to 

 warrant its purchase in larger quantities during the year 1921. 



Notwithstanding that the very active commercial fishery conducted 

 in the Columbia River each year was augmented last season by an 

 increased number of drift-net and trap-net fishermen, chinook-salmon 

 eggs in excess of 20,000,000 were taken at the Little White Salmon 

 station, the spawning season being from September 19 to October 15. 

 The operations were not altogether favorable, as both the Columbia 

 and Little White Salmon Rivers were at low stage throughout the 

 j)eriod the fish were running. The chum and silver salmons, until 

 recently practically ignored by Columbia River fishermen, were 

 sought during the past season as eagerly as the chinook. Collections 

 of eggs of these species amounted to 204,000 chum and 27,000 silver. 

 Transfers of eyed chinook eggs were made to provide room for the 

 feeding of fry and also for the purpose of improving the run of the 

 species at other points. The Clackamas station received 2,110,000, 

 Upper Clackamas 800,000, and the State hatchery at Bonneville 

 4,000,000. With the exception of 750,000 advanced" fry which w^ere 

 retained in the wide water above the rack, all the fish resulting from 

 the eggs remaining at the station were reared to fingei'ling sizes Nos. 

 2 and 3, and more than 11,250,000 were returned to the river. 



