270 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



fisliiug may be had in Canoe Pass as in the main channel, through 

 which the greater number might naturally be expected to make their 

 way, as probably they do. 



The species seems to distribute itself very generally throughout this 

 river system, attaining the headwaters of its principal branches and 

 entering a large proportion, if not the greater number, of its side tribu- 

 taries, both large and small. During the years when the larger runs 

 occur they make their appearance in many of these streams in extraor- 

 dinary abundance. Pitt River, not far above New Westminster, is said 

 to contain their nearest spawning-grounds to the sea, but the quantity 

 which enters this stream is relatively small. Other lower tributaries 

 which later runs ascend are Harrison River and Lake, Morris River, 

 and Silver Creek. 



Our knowledge of the season and movements of the sockeye in the 

 Fraser River is based mainly upon the experience of the fishermen and 

 canners, supplemented by the evidence of officers of the Canadian 

 government connected with hatching operations and the fishery i^olice. 

 Scientific observations are wholly lacking, and it is therefore impossible 

 to speak with confidence in regard to more than the main features of 

 the subject. There is considerable variation in the date of beginning 

 and ending of the season, the fish appearing and com^deting their 

 movement earlier in some years than in others, although there may be 

 more or less agreement in this respect during two or more succeeding 

 years, followed by a marked change. It has been reported that a few 

 sockeye sometimes work up the river in the latter part of May, but the 

 testimony to this effect is of doubtful value. The fact is well estab- 

 lished, however, that the species occasionally appears in small numbers 

 during the last few days of June. Moderate runs may occur as early 

 as July 4, but they are not generally expected in sufiicieut quantities 

 to start fishing operations before the 10th of July, and even up to that 

 date they may still be practically absent. By July 20 they should be 

 running as heavily as they will at any time. A large run may occa- 

 sionally take place at the very end of August, but the average fishing 

 season ends somewhere about the 20th to the 25th of August, and years 

 are recalled when nothing could be done after the first week of that 

 month. Small numbers usually continue present during more or less of 

 the early part of Sei)tember, but with the near approach of the spawning 

 period the fish rapidly deteriorate in appearance and condition and 

 lose their commercial value. 



The fishermen are inclined to recognize two distinct runs after the 

 movement has fully begun, these being separated by a few days of poor 

 fishing. This view, however, is not in accordance with the facts. There 

 is, from the beginning of the season, a more or less constant fluctuation 

 in the abundance of the fish. Larger bodies come from time to time, 

 the quantity diminishing more or less in the intervals between, while 

 frequently the fish become very scarce or may be entirely absent. 

 There is no regularity in the matter and nothing on which the nsher- 



