14 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



results attained, apparently at varying periods subsequent to the 

 marking. 



All sorts of marks wore employed. The favorite was the removal 

 of the adipose fin, the experim(Mit(>rs ajipoaring to be of the opinion 

 that the fish would miss this the least of any. However, the entire 

 or partial removal of nearly every fin was practiced by some one or 

 other of the many experimenters. Sometimes a V or a U was 

 punched out of the tail or the gill cover, and in one or two instances 

 a tag was employed. 



In time these marking experiments became so numerous, and so 

 imperfect a record was kept of them by any central authority, that 

 frequently it was impossiole to tell, when an apparently marked 

 specimen was obtained, where and when it was marked, and as a 

 result but little dependence could have been placed upon them even 

 had there been no other factors conspiring to vitiate their value. 



Fishermen are continually finding in their nets salmon which they 

 feel sure have been marked by some hatchery. Scores of times in 

 the course of his various investigations of the fisheri(>s of this coast 

 the \vTiter has been told of or shown specim<nis which the fishermen 

 thought had been marked. Many of these marks were on the side of 

 the fish and represented an M or W, depcmding upon the angle from 

 which viewed, antl it was impossible, generally, to convince the fisher- 

 men that this mark was caused by the twine of his gill net pressing 

 on the side of the fish. The obxious fact that a fish could not sm'vive 

 when in the fry stage the infliction of such a mariv did not occur to 

 them. 



Frequently the scars left by the suctorial organs of the lamprey 

 have been mistakenly supposed to be hatchery marks. This scar 

 resembles very closely a date stamp on a canceled letter. 



One of the most interesting cases of salmon marking, and one 

 which drives home the necessity for accepting reports of returns from 

 such markings with extreme caution, is that of F. M. Chamberlain, 

 then naturalist of the Bureau of Fisheries steamer Albatross, on the 

 Naha Stream in Alaska. 



In August, 1903, 1,600 red salmon fry, reared for the purpose from 

 the 1902 eggs, at the Fortmann hatchery of the Alaska Packers 

 Association, near Loring, Alaska, were marked by Mr. Chamberlain 

 by excising both ventrals with fine curved scissors. The fry were 

 released in the Naha River as soon as marked, at which time they 

 were about three months old. 



In 1900 between 50 and 100 adult reds with ventral fins missing 

 were reported by the superintendent of the hatchery at Yes Bay, 

 which is located on the northern side of Behm (\anal (Naha being on 

 the southern side) and some 15 miles farther up the canal than the 

 mouth of Naha Stream, Some of these also had the adipose removed, 

 this mark having also been used on some of the fry. At the Fort- 

 mann hatchery, where they were marked, only two of these fish were 

 obtained in 1906. 



P'rom then on until 1912, a period of 9^ years, the return of a 

 number of these supposedly marked fish is noted each year at the 

 two hatcheries in (question, the number reported in the latter year 

 being larger than m some of the intervening years. In 1912 Mr. 

 Chamberlain himself pointed out the impossibility of these all being 

 from the fry he had marked and no further attention was paid to them. 



