FISHWAYS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 11 



a fall of more than one foot in ten for the inclined plane system or one 

 in four in the pool and fall system, which latter must be adopted for 

 high dams. Another point to be taken into consideration is the 

 immense amount of strength which the fish must possess to make a 

 long ascent. In the natural streams they have pools or eddies in which 

 they can rest; and even though an attempt is made to reproduce these 

 in the fishways, it is questionable if they are as satisfactory as in the 

 natural streams. In order to provide better facilities for safeguarding 

 the fishing interests than are afforded by fishways for high dams the 

 Department of Fisheries and Game of the State of Washington permits 

 and encourages owners of high dams to build a hatchery at the foot of 

 the dams instead of constructing a fishway. This is in accordance 

 with the established policy of the state, to acquire a hatchery on every 

 salmon stream. 



In Canada, both Federal and Provincial legislation has been 

 enacted to safeguard the inland fisheries and to provide for the con- 

 struction of fishways. The chief difficulty, however, as far as fishways 

 are concerned, is that too frequently proper fishways are not provided, 

 and that such as are provided are allowed to fall into disuse. The 

 Dominion Fisheries Act* explicitly provides that fishways shall be 

 built wherever the Minister of Marine and Fisheries determines 

 they are necessary.! It says: 



"1. Every slide, dam or other obstruction across or in any 

 stream, where the Minister determines it to be necessary for the public 

 interest that a fish-pass should exist, shall be provided by the owner or 

 occupier with a durable and efficient fishway, or canal around the 

 slide, dam or other obstruction, which shall be maintained in a good 

 and effective condition by said owner or occupier, in such place and of 

 such form and capacity as will, in the opinion of the Minister, satis- 

 factorily permit the free passage of fish through the same. R.S., s. 46. 



"2. The place, form and capacity of the fishway or canal shall 

 be prescribed by any fishery officer by notice in writing. R.S., s. 46, 

 ss. 2. 



" 3 . Every fishway and canal shall be kept open and unobstructed 

 and shall be supplied with such sufficient quantity of water as the 

 Minister considers necessary to enable the fish frequenting the waters 

 in which such fishway or canal is placed to pass through the same 



* The Fisheries Act, 1914, R.S., c. 45, s. 1. 



t The Assistant Commissioner of Fisheries in British Columbia, Mr. John P. 

 Babcock, has had an excellent fishway, approximating as nearly as practicable to 

 the conditions of nature, cut in the rock at the side of the falls on the Meziadin river, 

 Nass River watershed. The cost of this fishway was defrayed by the Dominion 

 Department of Marine and Fisheries. See 'The Fishway at Meziadin Fall,' in 

 the Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries, British Columbia, for 1913, pp. R51-52. 



