268 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



boundary line, wbile off shore it seemvS to reach beyond-tbe margin of 

 the bank and even at times to the middle of the gulf, if the lishermeu's 

 accounts can be regarded as reliable. It is als(^ reported, though the 

 fact is not definitely confirmed, that occasionally a few of the fish work 

 around Point Grey into Burrard Inlet. 



Scarcely anything has been learned of the general habits of the 

 sockeye in salt water. They take neither food nor bait and therefore 

 lack the game qualities of the quinnat and the silver salmon. Unlike 

 those two species, their salt-water home is exclusively in the open 

 ocean off the outer coast. When they enter the Strait of Fuca they 

 are bound by the shortest routes to their spawning- grounds, and if they 

 tarry on the way it is only for short stops in the manner described 

 above. The Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, and the Gulf of 

 Georgia are to them practically only enlargements of the river, through 

 which they must necessarily pass, but in which they have no special 

 functions to perform. The adult fish occur there only during the period 

 of ascent, the season when they are fished for, July and August mainly. 

 They appear to move in compact, defined bodies, of smaller or larger 

 size, sometimes very extensive, another evidence of their transitory 

 presence. Occasionally these schools appear at the surface, as has 

 been especially reported at Point Eoberts, but usually they remain 

 lower down, although they may even then be seen at times in the clear 

 waters, particularly when they are passing over the shallow kelp- 

 covered ledges, which seems to be one of their delights, and which 

 exposes them to capture by the Indian nets. 



Statements regarding the rate of their movement in the salt water 

 are greatly at variance, as is to be exjiected from the crude opportuni- 

 ties for observation up to the present time. Varying conditions, duo to 

 the season and the weather, are very likely to cause a difference in this 

 respect. Schools reported at Becher Bay are said sometimes to make 

 the Fraser Eiver in five days, while again they may be as much as two 

 weeks on the way. They may be taken at Point Eoberts twenty-four 

 hours before they are noticed off the Fraser Eiver, or they may first be 

 observed simultaneously at both of these places. 



FRESH-WATER DISTRIBUTION. 



The Fraser is the only river of British Columbia emjjtying into the 

 Gulf of Georgia which the sockeye are known to ascend. In Wash- 

 ington this species seems to enter only the Skagit Eiver in sufficient 

 quantities for commercial purposes. It has been reported in very small 

 numbers from Lake Washington at Seattle, but elsewhere in the fresh 

 waters of the Puget Sound region its occurrence has never been iiosi- 

 tively recorded. 



Skagit River. — The number of sockeye ascending the Skagit Eiver 

 seems to be considerable, although the run is in no way comi)arable with 

 that on the Fraser Eiver. They enter the former river by way of Decep- 

 tion Pass and Skagit Bay. Fishing is mainly carried on in the bay, 



