80 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUE INDUSTRIES, 1911. 



Capt. Call'oreath, being a firm believer in the theory that salmon 

 return to the sa-ne stream where they are hatched, thought that by 

 artificial propagation and protective measures a heavy run could be 

 built up in a stream attracting normally but a comparatively small 

 number of sabnon. He felt that he would have the exclusive 

 preferential right as against other claimants to all sahnon produced 

 by his efforts over and above the normal run returning to the stream 

 or for a distance of 2 miles off its mouth. After operating 14 years, 

 failmg eyesight compelled Capt. Callbreath to close the hatchery. 

 The fact that no heavy run was established is by no means a reflec- 

 tion on the success of artificial propagation, but indicates instead the 

 fallacy of the parent stream theory, although it is more than probable 

 that the fish return to the same general region where they are hatched. 



Mr. Fred Patchuig, now superintendent of the Fortmann hatchery, 

 states that his observation, based on nine years' experience at the 

 Callbreath hatchery, leads to the conclusion that for every thousand 

 fish which entered from salt water about one million eggs were taken. 

 As many as possible were spawned, but quite a number seemed to 

 disappear. 



IMPROVED METHODS OF FISH CULTURE. 



Within the last few years there have been noteworthy advances 

 in fish-cultural methods applicable to the propagation of the Pacific 

 salmons. Among the more prominent features is the taking of 

 eggs by the method of incision, also the use of a salt solution in the 

 removal of dead eggs. The value of these and other new methods 

 has been thoroughly demonstrated, and it is only by adopting tli^m 

 that Pacific salmon culture can be brought to the new standard of 

 efficiency. It is the purpose here to direct attention to these require- 

 ments and at the same time bring to notice certain precautionary 

 measures and other reforms more or less necessary. 



TAKING EGGS BY INCISION. 



The long-followed process of takmg Pacific salmon eggs by hand 

 expression has been superseded in the last few years by the method 

 of incision, a method discovered and developed by the late Cloudsley 

 Rutter in connection with his study of the fife history of the salmon 

 of the Sacramento River. This consists simply of making a cut in 

 the abdominal walls from the throat or near the pectoral fins to the 

 vent, the fish just previously having been killed by a blow on the back 

 of the head. When making the cut the knife is either shielded by a 

 guard or is so held between the thumb and forefinger as to allow not 

 more than half an inch of the blade to project, thus precluding the 

 possibihty of injuring any of the eggs. Immediately following the 

 incision the eggs flow in a mass into the spawning pan beneath. The 



