KEPORT OP STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 103 



ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF SALMON IN THE 

 SACRAMENTO RIVER. 



By CLOUDSLEY RUTTER. 



By courtesy of San Francisco Trade Journal. 



Editor Trade Journal: After this generally poor season for salmon 

 fisheries the question of artificial propagation is sure to be discussed, 

 and I have already heard numerous complaints about its inefficiency. 

 These complaints seem to me to be more or less unreasonable, and yet 

 as they have a foundation in a fact, that is, in the small catch, and as it 

 has been a large part of my work during the past several years to 

 investigate both artificial and natural propagation, I shall be glad if 

 you will publish my views on the question, which I send herewith. 



Cannerymen and fishermen demand too much of the hatcheries. If 

 there is not a big run of fish every season, the hatchery is a failure. 

 In no other industry is such a demand made. Every few years there 

 is a scarcity of cattle or hogs or bees, yet no one claims on that account 

 that stock-breeding or bee-culture is a failure. The only difference is 

 that we can determine the cause when there is a failure of cattle or 

 hogs or bees, whereas we can not tell what destroys the salmon. 



For the sake of argument, let us suppose that natural propagation is 

 as efficient as artificial propagation, which averages above 85 per cent 

 for the time that the two methods come into competition. That is, 85 

 per cent of the eggs taken by the hatcheries produce healthy fry ready 

 for the ocean, after which time the product of artificial propagation has 

 neither an advantage nor a disadvantage as compared with that from 

 natural propagation; the conditions of the two are identical. And if 

 we grant that natural propagation is equally effective with artificial, 

 85 per cent of all eggs deposited must produce fry ready for the ocean. 

 That is, for each pair of quinnat salmon that spawn naturally, 5,100 

 fry begin their migration toward the ocean. Call it 5,000 for conven- 

 ience. That makes 2,500 for each spawning salmon, male and female; 

 or stated in another way, the increase is 2,500 fold. 



Now, on an average from year to year, the number of salmon remains 

 about the same. Therefore, 2,499 of these 2,500 swimming fishes must 



