254 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



than ill setting forth the conditions which are actually known to exist, 

 and while attention is called to the great variety of resources, these 

 are enlarged vipon only in the directions where their development has 

 already made them prominent. It has also been possible in these same 

 directions to indicate a few plausible means of safeguarding sucli 

 resources, the suggestions in that regard being made in the full belief 

 that ways can be found for rendering the fisheries as permanent a 

 feature of any region as that of farming. 



As the circumstances attending the rapid growth of the salmon 

 fishery in the Puget Sound region of Washington since 1895 have not 

 been made the subject of scientific investigation, and as only meager 

 information regarding them has been obtainable, coming often from 

 sources of doubtful authority, it has been impossible to deal with the 

 recent history of the question in other than a very general way. The 

 deductions here presented have, therefore, been chiefly based on the 

 conditions found to exist in 1895, with such additions as seem certainly 

 to be warranted. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



At the western end of the international boundary line formed by the 

 forty-ninth parallel of north latitude is a nearly landlocked sea, having 

 especially noteworthy characteristics, the most important of which at 

 present is its fishery wealth, shared in somewhat equal proportions 

 by both Canada and the United States. This sea is elongate in shape 

 and extends in a general northwest and southeast direction a distance 

 of over 200 miles. Its southern end penetrates some 50 miles or more 

 into the State of Washington, while its middle and northern parts lie 

 between Vancouver Island, on the west, and the mainland of Washing- 

 ton and British Columbia, on the east. Having nowhere a width of 

 over 35 miles, it is in some places much constricted and contains many 

 islands which occupy the greatest relative area south of the boundary. 

 Two passageways connect it with the ocean, a shorter and broader one, 

 the Strait of Juan de Fuca, opening on the west, and a long series of 

 irregular and mainly narrow channels leading northward. 



There is no name, unfortunately, by which this body of water can be 

 designated as a whole. Its northern j>art, chiefly in British territory, 

 is called the Gulf or Strait of Georgia; the middle portion, largely 

 occupied by the San Juan Islands, appears on the hydrographic charts 

 as Washington Sound, although locally this name is scarcely recog- 

 nized; while the southern part is known as Puget Sound, a term which 

 is often popularly but incorrectly applied to the entire area within the 

 limits of the State of Washington, exclusive of the Strait of Juan de 

 Fuca. 



Prominent characteristics of the sea are its abrupt shores, great 

 depths and relatively low and equable temperature of water. The 

 shore line is exceedingly irregular, being broken by innumerable bays, 

 harbors, and deep inlets, is high and rugged in many parts, and backed 



