158 American Fisheries Society 



this chute have been made by salmon, chiefly cohoe, but no fish 

 ever succeeded in reaching the fifty foot mark, while ninety per 

 cent failed under thirty-five feet. The behavior of the fish was 

 the same in most cases; when they found themselves stalled they 

 instinctively crossed to the opposite side trusting to find an eddy. 

 The results of this experiment show that salmon are not nearly 

 as capable as generally supposed, and incidentally the chute 

 served another purpose of more immediate interest to hatchery- 

 men. It proved that it could take the place of a fence or rack to 

 stop fish for spawning purposes. 



All hatcherymen who have attempted to keep a fence clean 

 during a freshet in the fall when the leaves are falling will appre- 

 ciate a contrivance that stops the fish, does not require cleaning, 

 and with the added advantage that the higher the water rises the 

 better it fishes. Of course it only serves to stop the fish, but if 

 part of the water is diverted down the outside of the chute through 

 a head-gate, or the chute built just above a small tributary it will 

 be found that the fish after a few ineffectual attempts to rush the 

 chute will compromise by taking the side channel. 



The second season after building, a fence was constructed at 

 the lower end of the chute and a pond formed in it by placing a 

 two by twelve across the bottom. The fish leaped the plank, 

 entered the fence through the lead provided, but could not get 

 out of the upper end. Paradoxical though it may appear the 

 chute formed a pen though open at one end. 



Chutes could also be used to prevent the migration of inferior 

 fish, and a little experimenting would determine the length nec- 

 essary to stop these fish while allowing the others to pass. It 

 would thus act as an automatic separator. 



THE PARENT FISH AS A FOOD SUPPLY. 



i 

 By A. Robertson, 



Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. 



In 1915 I buried seventeen hundred stripped sockeye salmon 

 in the garden at Harrison Lake for fertilizer. In the spring I 

 was astonished to find that many of these fish were intact and in 



