416 American Fisheries Society 



of these fish. So long as rivers flow through a wilderness and 

 so long as the population in the contiguous areas is not large, 

 we may hope to preserve the runs in all their natural wealth 

 and variety. But when the changes come it will be necessary 

 to adopt other plans, and before that time arrives it is wise 

 to consider what policy is to be followed with reference to 

 the new conditions. 



It is evident that the short streams with exceedingly 

 limited drainage areas and a brief course from the lake, in 

 which the red salmon spawn, to the ocean from whence the 

 adult fish came, will be the most readily preserved. Under this 

 heading come many streams of importance for the red salmon 

 in British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. On the other 

 hand, long rivers with extensive drainage basins and complex 

 systems of tributaries will offer the greatest difiiculties. In 

 this class fall particularly the Fraser River in British Co- 

 lumbia and the Copper River in Alaska. The situation is 

 somewhat the same on the Columbia River and possibly also 

 on the Yukon, with which I am not personally familiar. Per- 

 haps there are also other streams that approximate the same 

 conditions. 



In the Fraser River a careful study extending over a series 

 of years has been made of the spawning grounds, and the 

 character of those areas, as well as the number of fish by 

 which they were visited, has been pretty definitely determined. 

 Full data are given by Babcock (1914) and Gilbert (1914). 

 A recent examination has shown that even now some of the 

 spawning grounds are practically unvisited since the fish which 

 would normally seek those areas have been killed off. Now 

 the causes which are responsible for the destruction of these 

 fish, and thus for the total elimination of part of the run of 

 the river, are unfortunate in the highest degree because an 

 earlier recognition of the situation and a more perfect co- 

 operation between all of the interests involved might have 

 spared us this great loss. However, as outHned above, the 



