S2 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



supply of salmon eggs to a great extent must be supplied from the 

 Klamath River. During the seasons of 1922 and 1923, owing to the 

 low water and seasonal conditions, the Bureau of Fisheries at Battle 

 Creek and Mill Creek did not have any surplus eggs to furnish any of 

 the California Fish and Game Commission's stations. 



During the fall of 1921 there were collected at Klamathon egg- 

 collecting station on the Klamath River 19,178,000 eggs. These were 

 hatched and the resulting fry distributed as follows : 



Sent to Fort Seward, fall of 1921 2.000,000 



rianted iu the Sacramento River, 1922 7,311,OIX) 



Planted in Fall Creek, spring, 1922 2,331,000 



11,642,000 



Planted in Klamath River, fall, 1922 5,000,000 



Planted in Fall Creek, fall of 1922 1,000,000 



17,042,000 



During the fall of 1922 there were collected at Klamathon egg- 

 collecting station on the Klamath River 20,824,000 eggs. These were 

 hatched and the resulting fry distributed as follows : 



Sent to Fort Seward Hatchery 2,250,000 



Planted in Sacramento River 12,089,000 



Planted in Del Norte County 40,000 



Planted in Fall Creek 3,550,000 



17,929,000 



The season of 1923 opened very propitiously for the collection of 

 Chinook salmon on the Klamath River. The opinion of our superin- 

 tendent, Mr. G. H. Lambson, and his assistants, was that an equal 

 number of eggs w^ould have been taken, if not a greater number, than 

 during the season of 1922, but, during the fore part of October when 

 the pools were full of salmon between the racks and ready to be spawned 

 and their eggs ready to be collected for our hatcheries, the California- 

 Oregon Powder Company opened their sluice gates on the big Copco 

 Dam without giving our employees any warning of the danger that 

 threatened our racks at Klamathon, and caused a great flood of water 

 to descend the river which overflowed the racks and choked them up 

 with debris, logs, brush and other detritus so that the spawning salmon 

 escaped up the river, and, as the tributary streams between the racks 

 and the Copoc Dam were too low for any considerable number of these 

 salmon to spawn, a great number of the eggs carried by these spawners 

 was lost in the river between Klamathon racks and the Copco Dam, 



The Company's attention was called to this damage and they agreed 

 not to open their flood gates again without giving the Commission due 

 notice, and at no time to open them to such an extent as to cause 

 damage to our egg-collecting station. This damage to the season's 

 work is to be regretted as every salmon egg that can be collected and 

 hatched is necessary to maintain even a fair supply of salmon in our 

 rivers and ocean area. 



i:>nr-ing the fall of 1923, 4,041,000 salmon eggs were collected, 250,000 

 of which were sent to Fort Seward Hatchery for distribution in Eel 

 River. The remainder will ])e held in the ponds and planted this fall, 

 the statistical report for which will not appear until the next biennial 

 report of the Commission. 



