PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1924 391 



CLACKAMAS (GREG.) STATION AND SUBSTATIONS 



[Hugh C. Mitchell, Superintendent] 



Fish-cultural work in the Oregon field involved the collection of 

 over 62,000,000 salmon eggs and the successful development and 

 distribution of the product, only normal losses being sustained in 

 any field. A very large percentage of the eggs was of the chinook 

 salmon, the most important commercial fivsh occurring in the waters 

 of tlie State. Though eggs of the chum salmon were available in 

 considerable numbers in many of the coastal streams in Oregon, no 

 special effort was made to collect them, it being deemed preferable, 

 for the present at least, to devote the small amount of available funds 

 to the propagation of the more valuable chinook, especially as it is 

 not improbable, in view of the small demand for the chum salmon, 

 that the escapement is sufficient to insure the maintenance of the 

 run of that species through natural reproduction. 



A profitable fishing season was experienced on the Columbia River, 

 the estimated value of the salmon taken commercially amounting to 

 $10,000,000. The pack of canned salmon exceeded 480,000 cases, 

 while a large tonnage of salmon in the fresh state was shipped to 

 eastern points and to European countries. In view of the continued 

 success of the commercial fishery of this region, and the rather remark- 

 able returns from marked fish artificially reared at the hatcheries, it 

 seems only just to assume that artificial propagation is proving an emi- 

 nently important factor in maintaining this highly satisfactory state 

 of the fisheries. 



The bureau is again indebted to the State of Oregon for very lib- 

 eral assistance furnished during the year, financially and otherwise. 

 In the absence of this timely aid the work would have been very 

 seriously curtailed, owing to the bureau's lack of adequate funds. 

 Similar assistance was extended by the States of Washington and 

 Idaho, and this opportunity is taken to express the bureau's appre- 

 ciation of it. 



CLACKAMAS (OREG.) STATION 



Clackamas (Oreg.) station. — Spawn-taking operations on the Clack- 

 amas River were more successful than in any previous year, the 

 collections of chinook-salmon eggs in the two fields occupied amount- 

 ing to nearly 13,000,000. Of these over 11,000,000 were obtained 

 at Clackamas and the rejnainder on the upper Clackamas River 

 In addition to the work with this species, comparatively small 

 numbers of eggs of the silver and chum salmons were taken at 

 the traps, and eggs of the brook trout and steelhead salmon, 

 acquired by transfer, were also handled. Despitethe fact that the 

 young fish hatched from these eggs were held under more crowded 

 conditions than the best fish-cultural practice warrants, the final 

 results in fingerling fish distributed were very satisfactory. The 

 shipments from Clackamas during the year included a consignment 

 of 200,000 chinook-salmon eggs for the Netherlands Government. 



A remarkable occurrence in connection with the fish-cultural work 

 was noted. A lot of 1,500,000 chinook-salmon eggs failed to "water 

 harden" in response to the usual process applied, remaining soft to 

 the end of the incubation period. Notwithstanding this fact, they 

 were successfully hatched and the fry and fingerling fish produced 



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