16 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



TAKING AND IMPREGNATING THE EGGS. 



After salrnou are secured by the seiue or other means, they are, for 

 convenience in handling, placed in pens or live-boxes made for this 

 purpose, the ripe or nearly ripe males and females being kept separate. 

 Where the eggs are taken on a large scale, it is desirable to have 

 separate compartments for ripe males, ripe females, nearly ripe females, 

 and males partially spent that it may be necessary to use again, and 

 one or two spare compartments are found to be convenient where large 

 numbers of fish are handled. 



Stripping the fish is usually done every day, as the eggs of the 

 females confined in the pens are likely to be injured within the fish, 

 which is a serious objection to keeping the parent fish in confinement 

 any longer than is absolutely necessary. 



Of the signs that usually accompany ripeness in a female salmon, 

 the separation of the eggs in the ovaries is the surest, but the specific 

 signs are all fallible, and the spawn-taker relies rather on an indescrib- 

 able ripe look, which is neither color, shape, nor condition of organs, 

 but a general appearance which shows at a glance that the fish is ripe, 

 and can be appreciated only by experience. 



When taking the eggs, one or two men stand ready with dip nets to 

 hand the females to the si^awn-taker, and one or more perform the same 

 office with the males. After the salmon are taken from the x)ens they 

 are held suspended in the net until their violent struggles are over, 

 after which they become quiet enough to be handled and the eggs and 

 milt can be expressed easily. 



All methods of taking salmon spawn are very much the same, there 

 being only slight differences in details, chiefly in the manner of holding 

 the parent fish and impregnating the eggs. Where there are plenty 

 of assistants and the salmon are of medium size, the most expeditious 

 way is for the man who takes the spawn to hold the female in one 

 hand and press out the eggs with the other, another in the meantime 

 holding the tail of the fish. The male fish is handled in the same way. 

 This is the method emj)loyed at Baird, but on the Columbia, where the 

 salmon are larger and harder to manage, the ^'strait-jacket," as it is 

 called, is used; this is a sort of trough made the average length of the 

 salmon and hollowed out to fit its general shape. Across the lower end 

 is a permanent cleat, and at the upper end is a strap with a buckle. 

 The fish, when manipulated, is slid into the trough, the tail going down 

 below the cleat, where it is securely held and the head buckled in at 

 the upper end with the strap. It is now unable to do any harm by its 

 struggles and the eggs can be pressed out at leisure. The strait-jacket 

 is almost indispensable with very large salmon and is very convenient 

 when the operators are limited in number. 



In impregnating the eggs the main object is to bring the milt and 

 the eggs together as quickly as possible after they have left the 'fish. 

 By some persons a little water is considered desirable to give greater 

 activity to the milt, but if left more than a minute in the water there 



