276 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



years also, as well as in some preceding ones, the canneries became 

 overstocked and many sockeye were destroyed. The catch of 1889 was 

 likewise au unusual one, some of the contract fishermen earniug as high 

 as $1,500 during the season. 



Several theories have been advanced to account for the periodicity 

 in the abundance of the sockeye, which all seem willing to admit has 

 continued, with at least some measure of regularity, down to within 

 about a decade, but none of them is yet supported by conclusive evi- 

 dence. An explanation is rendered easier if it be assumed that the 

 sockeye makes but one spawning run, which seems in the main to be an 

 established fact, and that its age at that time is four years, a point, 

 however, which has not yet been determined from other evidence. On 

 this basis, the size of any run having been established, the run of four 

 years later, comiwsed of its own progeny, might be expected to be of 

 corresponding size; a large run to give origin to a large one, and a 

 small run to a small one. The size of the initial runs, at whatever 

 dates they are started, and the subsequent fluctuations in their size may 

 readily be accounted for by the many vicissitudes which belong to fish 

 life from the egg and embryo stages to adult age. Years of favoring 

 conditions alternate in irregular sequence with those in which the con- 

 ditions are adverse, and both at sea and about the spawning grounds 

 contingencies arise which may seriously aflect or change the volume of 

 any season's run. 



Some of the greatest dangers of destruction undoubtedly exist in 

 the spawning areas, where the eggs and the embryos are subject to 

 much damage through the cold of winter, the force of freshets, and the 

 washing of silt and gravel in upon the beds, and from one or other 

 of these causes a large mortality must occur. Other agencies to be 

 considered are the fisheries, both commercial and by the Indians, which 

 remove a large amount of fish, but it seems improbable that either of 

 these could be made to account for the periodic fluctuations. This is 

 especially so as regards the white man's fishing, which did not become 

 extensive until many years after the variations had been recognized, 

 and in spite of which the sockeye seem to be no less abundant now 

 than in early times. While the Indian methods and the extent of their 

 captures are more likely to have had a bearing on the case, it seems 

 more natural that their fishing should have affected all runs alike. 



As before noted, one of the principal objects in establishing a hatchery 

 on the Eraser Eiver was to attempt to equalize the runs of sockeye, to 

 make this species more abundant in off years, and thus, if possible, 

 to provide good fishing every season. From the testimony of the local 

 oflBcers and fishermen, and even from the statistics of the last few years, 

 it would appear as though something may have been accomplished in 

 this direction. 



In 1889 Fishery Inspector Mowat reported that the parent sockeye 

 had become more plentiful in the small creeks where the fry had been 

 deposited, and thought the increase in Morris Creek had been tenfold, 



