SOME FEATURES IN THE MIGRATION OF THE 



SOCKEYE SALMON AND THEIR PRACTICAL 



SIGNIFICANCE* 



By Henry B. Ward 



University of Illinois, Urhana, Illinois 



Problems suggested by the striking life history of the Pa- 

 cific salmon have attracted the attention of naturalists and 

 fish culturists for a long time, and many able men have worked 

 on the subject. Their contributions have given positive infor- 

 mation with reference to many factors in the situation, but 

 the subject is too large and too complex to have yielded en- 

 tirely to their efforts and some questions have been left un- 

 solved. It is also necessary to determine the precise appli- 

 cation of these observations and principles to the practical ques- 

 tions that present themselves at the present day. 



The importance of the problem can hardly be overesti- 

 mated. Both of the great countries prominently represented in 

 this meeting count as one of their greatest natural resources 

 the salmon fisheries of the Pacific coast. In both of them the 

 feeling has long been cherished by some well-informed men 

 that this important and valuable resource was in danger of 

 serious diminution, if not of total destruction. One of our 

 great political leaders, himself an enthusiastic out-doors man, a 

 lover of nature, and a vigorous supporter of conservation, rec- 

 ognized the impending danger by appointing in 1902 a com- 

 mission to investigate the salmon fisheries of Alaska, and the 

 Alaska Salmon Commission under the leadership of David 

 Starr Jordan laid the foundation for a scientific work which 

 has been continued energetically by many investigators in both 

 Canada and the United States since that time. 



* This paper is based on investigations made by the writer while in the service of 

 the Bureau of Fisheries, and is published by permission of the Commissioner of 

 Fisheries. 



Contribution from the Zoological Laboratory of the University of Illinois, 

 No. i8o. 



