394 American Fisheries Society 



at the Abercrombie Rapids. Here the river makes a rapid and 

 violent descent for a short distance, and it was evident even 

 on the first inspection of the situation that the red salmon 

 must experience great difficulty in ascending the stream at this 

 point. It seemed altogether likely that the fish would have 

 to follow a course near one shore or the other. On the east 

 bank there are several large eddies in which it is well known 

 that the fish congregate in large numbers. The opposite bank 

 does not possess any such conspicuous places of refuge, but 

 there is a multitude of little eddies formed by jutting rocks, 

 irregular in size and shape, but constituting a series of resting 

 places, so that the fish can make the ascent of the rapids by 

 passing through the series without being drawn into the full 

 current of the river at any point and without being compelled 

 to traverse the more violent stretches of water for more than 

 a few feet. 



The fishermen who are working along this shore are very 

 successful in scooping the salmon out of these minor eddies, 

 and have learned the spots at which the fish rest longest, for 

 these are the places where the scoop net functions most success- 

 fully. As the water in the stream is exceedingly turbid, it is 

 not possible for the fish to see the fisherman, so the net sweeps 

 through without alarming the fish. Having scooped out the 

 contents of the eddy the fisherman pauses a moment to permit 

 other fish to come in, and then makes another sweep to gather 

 in the salmon which have reached it in the interval. When 

 the fish are migrating rapidly, this fishery is very successful 

 and, I think, likely to catch a large percentage of the fish passing 

 while dip netting is being carried on. 



The employees of the cannery located near this point insist 

 upon the view that the salmon also use the center of the stream, 

 since in the period of migration they have often been able to 

 see the fins cutting the water far out from the shore. It 

 must be borne in mind that the turbidity of the stream here 

 is so great as to prevent seeing a fish even a short distance 



