FISHERIES OF WASHINGTON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. 349 



the discovery of some better way it seems advisable to sanction the 

 present practice under due restrictions, the fishery officers being empow- 

 ered to prevent its deposition wherever it would be prejudicial. 



The fishermen of this region are quite alive to the benefits of fish- 

 culture, and many of them, in fact, have so strong a faith in its efficacy 

 as to lead them to magnify its possibilities and to conclude that through 

 its agency the necessity for any regulations may be dispensed with. 

 They argue that if the eggs be secured in sufficient quantities and the 

 proportion of survivals be as great as claimed by some fish-culturists, 

 why sljould not the supply of fish be capable of maintenance and 

 even of unlimited increase by this means alone? There is no evidence, 

 however, that would warrant us in anticipating so large a measure of 

 success either here or elsewhere, and the time of unrestricted fishing 

 is undoubtedly as far distant now as ever. 



The artificial propagation of the sockeye was started on the Fraser 

 River in 1884, and since 1887 the number of fry and advanced eggs 

 planted yearly has ranged from 2,400,000 to something over 6,000,000. 

 Its primary object was to equalize the annual runs of that species, to 

 make them larger during the off' years. The abundance of fish during 

 the past few seasons has been very commonly ascribed to this t luse, 

 the quantitj'^ having apparently become greater in all years. While it 

 is to be hoped that there is some foundation for this explanation of the 

 increase, it is well to bear in mind that the annual output of fry, espe- 

 cially after allowing for the inevitable mortality among them, has been 

 much smaller than the annual catch of adult fish, and scarcely sufficient 

 to make itself felt to anything like the extent noted within so short a 

 period. 



On the Skagit Eiver fish-culture began in 1896-97 with an output of 

 5,500,000 sockeye fry; in 1898, 6,000,000 were planted, while the number 

 of eggs collected in the fall of 1898 was 7,500,000„ The opportunities 

 for collecting the eggs on this stream are exceptionally good, but it 

 is still too early to expect results. The quinnat offers a much more 

 interesting field for experimentation than the sockeye in the direction 

 of improving the color and quality of its flesh by the introduction of 

 fry from the Columbia River — a project suggested some years ago, but 

 never carried into effect. While the success of such a measure could 

 only be determined by actual trial, it seems to be worth the effort, and 

 the transplanting presents no difficulties that could not readily be 

 overcome. An increase in the abundance of the species is also called for. 



A great waste of salmon occurs in connection both with canning 

 operations and with the fishery, which may be expected to continue as 

 long as fish are plentiful. Lacking an incentive to economize in the 

 preparation of the catch, little pains are taken by the cannery opera- 

 tives to cut closely in removing the heads and fins, and much edible 

 meat is thus lost. The exercise of greater care would add to the 

 expense of canning without material gain under existing circumstances, 



