40 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [Vol. IX. 



until more definite evidence is brought forward in favour of the existence 

 of a homing instinct. 



I have already given some figures which may serve to convev some 

 idea of the extent of the salmon fishing industry in British Columbia. 

 When one thinks of the hundreds of thousands of salmon that are taken 

 annually one cannot avoid wondering whether the supply will in the future 

 continue to equal the demand. Can the fisheries continue to be carried 

 on at their present rate without seriously impairing the supply? 



It must be remembered that the fish are taken on their way to the 

 spawning grounds and it is upon the arrival of a sufficient number of fish 

 on these grounds that the size of the run of the fourth succeeding year 

 depends. It is not directly from the size of the catch of any year that the 

 size of the catch four years later can be estimated, but from the number 

 of fish that m.ay be found on the spawning grounds, having escaped the 

 nets of the fishermen and other enemies on the way. An accurate estimate 

 of such fish cannot very well be made, although the number of eggs taken 

 at the hatcheries will give a certain idea of their abundance. It may, 

 however, be assumed that the larger the run the greater will be the number 

 of fish that escape the nets and ascend the river, and that this assumption 

 is fairly correct is shown by a comparison of the hatchery take of eggs and 

 the size of the run as determined by the cannery pack. 



We may, therefore, take the cannery pack as a basis of information on 

 the question, or better, perhaps, the average pack per cannery, or better 

 still, the average pack per line of machinery in operation, for after 1897 

 several canneries enlarged their output by adding additional lines of 

 machinery. There are objections to such averages as a basis for argument, 

 but for our present purpose they are more suitable than the statistics of 

 the total pack. I have plotted out these averages for the years 1876- 



1904, the figures being taken from the Dominion Fisheries Report for 



1905, and in plotting them I have distinguished the various runs of the 

 four vear cycles (Fig. 3). It will be seen that in the early part of the 

 period three classes of runs may be distinguished : good, intermediate 

 and poor. In the earlier years there were two good runs, those of the 

 1877'and 1878 series, one intermediate, that of 1879, and one poor, that of 

 1876. The 1878 run was about equal to that of 1877, but four years later 

 it was appreciably better. In the following fourth year, however, it 

 suddenly sank to the poor class, for what reason I do not know. In the 

 two following fourth years it made brave attempts to regain its original 

 position, but finally failed and ended in the poor class. The 1877 series 

 has remained good throughout and has never descended from the good 



