70 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES, 1911. 



'determined by careful measurement was 2,411. The capacity of 

 ;the station is approximately 72,000,000 red salmon eggs. 



During the summer and fall of 1911 the collection aggregated 

 :30,520,000 red salmon, 6,472,000 humpback, and 224,700 coho eggs. 

 Several million of the red-fish eggs came from the field developed 

 first in 1010 at Malina Lake, which debouches on the side of Afognak 

 Island opposite the Litnik or Afognak catchment basin where the 

 hatchery is located. It is necessary to transport the eggs overland 

 several miles to the hatchery. The Malina fish are said to average 

 larger in size than those running into Afognak Lake. 



The cohos do not ripen until so late in the season that egg-taking 

 on an extensive scale is out of the question, owing to the interference 

 of ice. A noteworthy increase occurred this season in the take of 

 humpback eggs. It is proposed hereafter to devote more attention 

 to the propagation of this species of salmon. A station at an appro- 

 priate point, particularly in southeastern Alaska, would be a desira- 

 ble acquisition. The establishment of a substation for red salmon 

 eggs at Eagle Harbor on the south shore of Kodiak Island is under 

 consideration. 



A runway was blasted out in the falls of Afognak River, thus 

 making it easier for the fish to ascend. A rack was also built across 

 the river for the purpose of counting the number of salmon entering 

 the lake. It is hoped to establish valuable facts concerning the life 

 history of the salmon by these observations, which are contemplated 

 for a series of years. 



An interesting experiment was conducted at the Afognak station 

 last season to detemiine the degree of ripeness producing the best 

 quality of eggs. The loss on the lot taken from females which were 

 dead ripe — eggs flowing very freely — was less than 1 per cent, while 

 with another lot, where the females were ordinarily ripe upon testing 

 in the usual manner, the loss was about 5 per cent. This shows the 

 need of caution in having fish fully ripe before stripping if the highest 

 degree of efficiency is to be expected. 



The Afognak station was built in 1907, and as fry have been planted 

 for only three seasons, it will hardly be time before another year to 

 note any returns as a result of fish-cultural operations at this point. 

 It has been generally conceded that the average life cycle of the sal- 

 mon is four years, but the idea is gaining ground that it may be five 

 years in the colder northern waters, where development would nat- 

 urally be slower. 



Afognak Island, including Sea Lion Rocks and Sea Otter Island, 

 was set aside as a public reservation for fish-cultural purposes by 

 presidential proclamation of December 24, 1892. Early m 1909 the 

 Bureau gave the natives locally resident permission to take limited 

 numbers of salmon, under the supervision of the station superintend- 



