10 SALMON FISHERIES OF PACIFIC COAST. 



the fall the males are mostly of a dirty red. The flesh in this species 

 is of excellent flavor, but paler in color than the red salmon, and 

 hence less valued for canning purposes. 



This species has a maximum weight of about 30 pounds, with a 

 general average of about G pounds. 



The silver salmon is found as far south as Monterey Bay, where 

 it appears during the month of July and is taken by the trailers. 

 From Eel River, in California, north, it is found in most of the 

 coastal streams. It usually appears in July and runs as late as 

 November, the time of appearance and disappearance varying some- 

 what in different sections. Owing to its late appearance compara- 

 tively few, and they usually in the early part of the season, are 

 packed by the canneries, most of which shut down in July and August. 

 This fish also tarries but a short time about the mouth of the stream 

 it is to enter, and is wary of nets, which makes it rather unprofitable 

 to fish for the latter part of the season when it is running alone. 



On the Asiatic side the coho ranges down the coast to Japan. 



HUMPBACK OR PINK SALMON. 



The humpback or pink salmon (O. gorbmcha) is the smallest of 

 the American species, weighing from 3 to 11 pounds, the average 

 being about 4 pounds. In color it is bluish above, silvery below, the 

 posterior and upper parts with many round black spots, the caudal 

 fin always having a few large black spots, oblong in shape. The 

 males in fall are dirty red and are very much distorted in shape, a 

 decided hump appearing on the back, from which deformity the 

 species acquires its name. The flesh is softer than in the other 

 species ; it is pale in color, hence its canned name, " pink " salmon. 



The southern limit of the fish is the Sacramento River, but only 

 occasional specimens are found here and in the rivers to the north- 

 ward until Puget Sound is reached. Here a large run appears every 

 other year, the only place on the coast where such is the case. 



The humpback occurs in varying abundance in the waters of Brit- 

 ish Columbia, but it is in the waters of southeast Alaska that it ap- 

 pears in its greatest abundance. Many of the canneries in this region 

 depend mainly upon the humpback for their season's pack, and the 

 canned product now occupies an excellent position in the markets of 

 the world. The fish spawn in nearly all of the small, short streams. 



In central and western Alaska the runs are much smaller and the 

 humpback is not much sought after by the cannery men, who are usu- 

 ally able to fill their cans with the more valuable species. 



On the Asiatic side it is found in the rivers of Siberia (abundant 

 in the Amur) , but not in Japan. 



In southeast Alaska the run begins in June and continues until 

 September, or even later in some places. In western Alaska the period 

 is somewhat shorter. In Puget Sound it continues until late in the fall. 



