98 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1915. 
ege-collecting season, extending from August 6 to October 2, 1914, a 
total of 3,816,000 were obtained and placed in baskets in the hatchery. 
During the continuance of operations, which extended to April 15, 
1915, the loss of eggs was 163,000, or 4.2 per cent. In the period from 
December 14, 1914, to April 15, 1915, the number of young red salmon 
liberated was 3,653,000. It is reported that all of these were in good 
condition. The hatchery is provided with a small rearing pond, but 
at times it has not been serviceable because it freezes to the bottom. 
This difficulty can be overcome by deepening the pond. Operations 
would be facilitated further by the construction of another pond at 
least 20 by 30 feet insize. Through the egg-collecting season of 1915, 
4,130,000 red-salmon eggs were taken. 
When the station was visited in September, 1915, by Inspector 
Walker, special attention was devoted to the conditions under which 
fry are liberated and the matter was discussed with the hatchery em- 
ployees at some length. They were made to realize that hatchery 
efliciency does not consist merely in liberating a stated number of 
young fish, but rather that the percentage of those surviving until 
they are fully able to take care of themselves is the real basis for deter- 
mining the efficiency of all fish-cultural work. Unusual interest was 
shown by the hatchery employees in the selection of suitable locations 
for the planting of the young salmon and the exercise of judgment as 
to the time of planting, so that the greatest possible number of fish 
might survive. 
In December, 1915, the North Pacific Trading & Packing Co. 
advised that they had in contemplation the blasting away of a num- 
ber of rocks which partly obstructed the outlet of the lake. The 
removal of these rocks would give the adult salmon a better chance to 
get into the lake, and at the same time the lake could not rise during 
storms to such a height as to allow the fish to get around the racks at_ 
the different streams tributary to the lake where they are taken for 
spawning purposes. The Bureau expressed its hearty concurrence in 
the development of any plan along this line that might have a bene- 
ficial effect on the supply of salmon or might in any way improve the 
operation of the hatchery. This work is in line with similar under- 
takings contemplated by the Bureau elsewhere in Alaska. 
GENERAL STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES IN 1915. 
In 1915 the total investment in the Alaska fisheries amounted to 
$37,316,560, an increase of $277,928 over 1914. Approximately 86 
per cent of this investment was in the salmon industry. The number 
of persons engaged in 1915 was 22,462, or an increase of 1,262 over 
1914. The total value of the products in 1915 was $20,999,343, or a 
decrease of $243,632 from 1914. Although the actual quantity of 
fishery products produced in 1915 was greater than in the previous 
