30 REPORT OF BOARD OP FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONERS. 



PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION Of fISH, SEASON 1910-1911. 



SALMON PROPAGATION. 



In 1910, during the months of October, November, and December,, 

 the Fish and Game Commission received as usual from the U. S. Bureau 

 of Fisheries, a grant of 24,126,000 salmon eggs which had been 

 spawned at the Federal hatcheries at Baird, Battle Creek, and Mill 

 Creek. These eggs were received and cared for at the State hatcheries 

 at Sisson, Eel River and Brookdale. 



Those hatched at Sisson were liberated in the tributaries of the Sac- 

 ramento, near the hatchery, with the exception of 2,215,000 Avhich were 

 taken down to Redding and liberated in the Sacramento. Those hatched 

 at the Eel River Hatchery were liberated in that stream within a few 

 miles of the sea, and those hatched at Brookdale were planted in Scott 

 Creek and the San Lorenzo River. 



In addition to the above grant, 2,109,000 of silver salmon eggs were 

 obtained through the joint operations of the Commission and the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, on Klamath River, near Klamathon. The eggs 

 of the silver salmon were shipped to Sisson and hatched there, with the 

 result that 700,000 young silver salmon were planted in Klamath River 

 and 719,000 in the Sacramento River. This was the first effort made 

 in this State to increase the runs of the silver salmon ; heretofore 

 hatchery propagation having been confined to the Quinnat, or Sacra- 

 mento salmon. 



The silver salmon, commonly called ''Coho" in the north, apparently 

 does not enter either the Sacramento or the San Joaquin rivers. There 

 is no known reason why the fish should not enter these streams ; they 

 run abundantly in the Klamath and the Smith rivers, in Del Norte 

 County; they are taken in considerable numbers in Eel River, in the 

 fall; and they frequent many other of the coast streams, as far south 

 as Monterey Bay. Strange as it may appear, the presence of the 

 silver salmon in the waters of this State remained unnoticed until Dr. 

 Gilbert, Professor of Zoology, at Stanford University, a few seasons 

 ago called attention to them. Heretofore, all the salmon taken in our 

 rivers have been commercially classed as Quinnat. The silver salmon- — 

 though a true Pacific salmon — is not considered as valuable a fish as the 

 Quinnat ; they are smaller, run late in the fall, and are lacking in color 

 and in oil. Nevertheless they are an excellent food fish when taken as 

 they enter the rivers from the sea. Though the silver salmon run 

 neither into the Sacramento nor the San Joaquin rivers, as an experi- 

 ment the Commission planted 719,000 in the Sacramento, at Redding, 

 with the hope of establishing a run in that river of these desirable 

 fish. The outcome of the experiment will be watched with interest. 



