92 "U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



When salmon are stripped by man, the eggs fertilized and retained 

 in liatcheries until the young are born, and then planted as soon as 

 the yolk sac has been absorbed, it is manifest that the only saving 

 over the natural method is in reducing the loss in the egg stage. 

 We know that many eggs, after being deposited naturally on the 

 spawning beds, are devoured by other fishes, while sudden freshets 

 and occasional droughts also claim their toll of eggs. It is higlily 



f)robable, although we have no positive data on this point, that these 

 osses far exceed those experienced in artificial salmon culture, and 

 whatever this difference is it represents the extent to which salmon 

 hatcheries should be credited as preservers of the industry. 



In the opinion of the author, the best way in which to conserve the 

 fisheries ol the coast is by enacting and enforcing laws under which 

 a certain proportion of the runs \\'ill be enabled to reach the spawning 

 beds and perform the final and most important function of their 

 lives unmolested. If this is done, there can be no question of the 

 perpetuation of the industry, and if it is then supplemented by the 

 woi-k of hatcheries, which would reduce the loss in the egg stage, 

 assurance on this point would be made doubly sure. 



If unrestricted fishing is to prevail, however, with a dependence 

 upon hatcheries alone to repair the ravages of man, the industry will 

 suffer seriously, for, from the very nature of things, less and less fish 

 will annually escape through the fishing zone, resulting in a continu- 

 ally lessening quantity of eggs being obtained at the hatcheries, and 

 finally the latter will have to close down from sheer lack of material 

 upon which to work. 



Should eggs be brought to the hatchery from other streams, it 

 would merely be "robbing Peter to pay Paul," and in the end thf* 

 same result would follow in those streams. 



Fortunately these matters are becoming increasingly plain to the 

 people of the various States, provinces, and territories concerned, 

 and, while a few selfish persons in each are seeldng solely their own 

 enrichment oy any means possiole, the greater number of those 

 interested in fishing operations want to see the industry perpetuated 

 and are willing to do almost anything that will work to this end. 



The rapid increase, during recent years, of salmon trolling and purse 

 seining on the feeding banks off the mouth of the Columbia Kiver and 

 outside the Strait of Juan de Fuca and elsewhere on the coast has 

 resulted in the taking of large quantities of small and immature 

 salmon, and alarm is now felt lest the runs of chinooks and cohos be 

 seriously depleted. Several thousands of large and small boats are 

 being operated on these gromids from five to eight months of the year, 

 and while, when prices were comparatively low, but few of these 

 iramatm-e fish were marketed, the high prices which have prevailed 

 during the last four years have caused such an intensity of fishing that 

 many thousands are now caught each season. 



Investigations " by experts off the mouth of the Columbia in 1918 

 show that a large proportion of the chinook salmon caught by trolling 

 are 2 and 3 years ola. These are generally sold to the canners, who 

 separate them into two groups, those under 5 pounds and those over. 

 Those under 5 pounds are cahed "graylings" by the lisherinen, but a 

 mere glance at them is sufficient to establish their real identity. The 



a The Taking of Immature Salmon in the Waters of the State of Waslungton. By E Victor Siaitli 

 State of Washington, Dept. of Fi3heries. 44 pp., >i pis. 1920. 



