PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 493 



All fish entered for clul) buttons or prizes must be entered round anfl officially 

 weighed by the club weigher and on scales approved by the club and must be 

 weighed within 48 liours after being cought. 



Protests as to weight or numner in which the fish was taken must be filed in 

 writing with the club within 48 hours after the fish is weighed in. 



Only fish taken within the waters of Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de 

 Fuca will be allowed for club competition. 



Buttons and ■prizes. — As a reward of merit the club will award buttons to all 

 members who catch chinook, spring or king salmon, and silver or coho salmon 

 with the tackle as noted above and follow the rules established by the club: 

 Chinook salmon weighing 20 pounds or over, a bronze button; chinook salmon 

 weighing 25 pounds or over, a silver button; chinook salmon weighing 35 pounds 

 or over, a gold button; silver salmon weighing 10 pounds or over, a bronze button; 

 silver sixhnon weighing 12 pounds or over, a silver button; and silver salmon weigh- 

 ing 15 pounds or over, a gold button. 



The T.yee Club of Campbell River, on Vancouver Island, British 

 Columbia, which was organized in 1924, and whose members are 

 limited to amateur anglers who have qualified by taking a salmon 

 of 30 pounds or over by the use of rod, reel, and line unaided, is doing 

 much in British Columbia to popularize sport fishing for salmon. 

 Its regulations as to tackle which may be used are the same as those 

 of the Seattle Rod and Gun Club. A bronze button is awarded for a 

 fish of 30 pounds or over or a gold button for a fish of 50 pounds or 

 over. One button only will be awarded a member, but a bronze 

 button may be exchanged for a gold button when won. Only fish 

 taken within the waters bounded by Cape Mudge and Seymour 

 Narrows will be considered. 



DANGERS TO THE INDUSTRY 



Man is undoubtedly the greatest present menace to the perpetua- 

 tion of the great salmon fisheries of the Pacific coast. When the 

 enormous number of fishermen engaged and the immense quantity 

 of gear employed is considered one sometimes wonders how any 

 of the fish, in certain streams at least, escape. High water or low 

 water, either of which will prevent certain forms of apparatus from 

 fishing to any extent while such conditions prevail, storms which 

 impede fishing, and the hundred and one small things which in 

 the aggregate are of considerable importance, however, all aid in 

 assisting the salmon in dodging the apparatus and reaching the 

 spawning beds in safety, while, unless the stream is completely 

 blocked by a tight barricade, an indeterminate number of salmon 

 will escape all the pitfalls man and animals may set for them. 



Effects oj fish culture. — In some sections an almost idolatrous faith 

 in the efficacy of artificial culture of fish for replenishing the ravages of 

 man and animals is manifested, and nothing has done more harm 

 than the prevalence of such an idea. 



While it is an exceedingly difficult thing to prove, the consensus of 

 opinion is that artificial culture does considerable good, yet the very 

 fact that this can not be conclusively proved ought to be a warning 

 to all concerned not to put blind faith in it alone. 



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

 in hatcheries 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 



