Cobb. — Protecting Migrating Pacific Salmon. 147 



in which it was planted. How it finds this particular stream 

 out of the many, is still one of the unsolved salmon problems, 

 but find it we well know it does. As soon as the salmon reach 

 the brackish waters they cease to feed, and from this until the 

 end no food enters the stomach. After a period varying with 

 the species and the length of the stream, those that escape their 

 many enemies reach the spawning grounds. Here they remain 

 until the eggs and milt are ripe, when the reproductive act takes 

 place. From the moment the fish enters the fresh water a sort 

 of decay of its body sets in. Gradually the body loses the bright, 

 silvery appearance it had when first coming in, and replaces it 

 with a reddish, sometimes a deep red, color; the scales gradually 

 fuse into the skin, the upper jaw becomes elongated and hooked, 

 in some dead white blotches appear on the body and these spread 

 so that finally the whole body appears one dead white blotch. 

 As the fish has ceased to eat, the stomach and intestines, through 

 disuse, shrivel up until it would be difficult to insert a pencil 

 point into them. Still other changes are noticed in some species. 

 But the above is ample to prepare the reader to learn that all of 

 these fish die after spawning. 



As a result of this it is not necessary for us to assure a 

 return passage to their ocean home for these hordes, but it is 

 necessary to do so for their progeny. The eggs deposited by 

 the female find shelter in the pebbles at the bottom and those 

 that have been fertilized and escaped their enemies hatch out in 

 approximately three months time. They are born with a yolk 

 sack and during the first 30 days they live by absorbing this, 

 after which they must shift for themselves. The humpbacks and 

 dogs go to sea as soon as possible after the sack is absorbed, 

 while the others remain in the fresh waters varying periods, 

 ranging from three months to sixteen months after birth. 



SAFEGUARDING THE MIGRATING ADULT FISH. 



From the above it can easily be perceived that our first task 

 is to assure a safe passage to the spawning grounds of those fish 

 which escaped their many enemies in the main Columbia River. 

 No commercial fishing is permitted in the Yakima River, al- 

 though Indians catch them for home use, and occasionally to 



