44 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 8 



Table 3 - Canners' Shipments from July 1, 1965, tojiine 1, 1966, by Species and Can Size 



18-1 lb. 

 i8-|lb. 



18-1 lb, 

 12-4 lb. 



Total 



King 



Red 



Coho 



Pink 



Chum 



Total 



8,888 



128,038 



19,004 



254 



156, 184 



313,298 



641,246 



936, 367 

 7,632 



1,898,543 



101,204 



111,947 



100,406 



11,968 



(Actual Cases) . . . 

 7,217 



345,638 



980,953 



55, 394 



325,525 



1,389,202 



41 



81,259 



470, 120 



15,052 



566,472 



430, 648 



1,308,128 



2, 506, 850 



90, 300 



4,335,926 



Pacific salmon packing season. Adding 

 the 1965 new seasonpack of 3,541,187 standard 

 cases brought the total available supply for the 

 1965/66 market season to 4,274,762 standard 

 cases. 



Shipments at the canners' level of all salmon 

 speciesfrom July 1, 1965, to June 1, 1966, to- 

 taled 3,358,876 standard cases. The carryover 

 of 733,575 standard cases on July 1, 1965, the 

 beginning of the 1965/66 salesyear, was sub- 

 stantially lower (37.6 percent) than the carry- 

 over of 1,175,588 cases ayear earlier. 



Data on canned salmon stocks are based 

 on reports from U. S. Pacific Coast canners 

 who packed over 96 percent of the 1965 salm- 

 on pack. (Division of Statistics and Econom- 

 ics, National Canners Association, June 25, 

 1966.) 



Note: See Commercial Fisheries Review, July 1966 p. 43. 



^ sj: s[< s[c ^ 



FINGERLINGS ARE "BRANDED" 



IN MIGRATION STUDIES: 



About 1/2 -million young salmon are 

 being "branded" at the U. S. Department 

 of the Interior's Little White Salmon Na- 

 tional Fish Hatchery (near White Salmon, 

 Wash.), announced the Department's North- 

 west Regional Information Office, May 26, 

 1966. But the branding is accomplished 

 by a cold method instead of the hot iron 

 technique long used in cattle identification. 



The young salmon are held to the brand- 

 ing "iron" for a fraction of a second, im- 

 printing a permanent mark on the skin. 

 It does not harm the fish. The brand 

 merely changes the coloration from light 

 silver to dark gray or black in the area 

 contacted. 



The unique branding technique is design- 

 ed to keep tract of the seaward -bound mi- 

 grant fish in a comprehensive study of the 

 timing and survival of fingerlings taking 

 place in the Columbia and Snake rivers. The 



research is conducted by the Seattle office of 

 the Interior Department's Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries. 



The new method is faster than fin-clipping 

 and increases chances of survival because it 

 does not impair fish mobility. Brands have 

 lasted through the fresh-water life of the fish 

 but it is not known if they will last through 

 lengthy periods in the sea. The mark has 

 lasted up to six months in salt water. 



Fingerlings are placed in a tranquilizer 

 and then are held one by one against the 

 branding point, which is a silver U mount- 

 ed on the end of a 6 -inch brass rod. The 

 brass rod extends through the wall of an 

 insulated container filled with dry ice and 

 wood alcohol to create a subfreezing tem- 

 perature of -68° F. The brass rod con- 

 ducts the extreme cold to the silver U 

 against which the fingerling is held for 

 branding. Branding takes but an instant 

 and then the fish is placed in a recovery 

 tank. 



The U-shaped brand is used as is, in- 

 verted, or lying sideways. It is placed on 

 different locations of the fish's body and on 

 either side. A total of 16 different mark 

 combinations are possible from this one 

 U mark. 



The 500,000 small salmon that are being 

 branded are fall Chinook salmon that were 

 hatched at Spring Creek Hatchery (at Under- 

 wood, Wash.) and reared at Big White Salm- 

 on Hatchery. The hatchery rearing of the 

 young fish is done by Interior's Bureau of 

 Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. 



Branded fish will be released in a turbine 

 and in the tailrace of Ice Harbor Dam on 

 the Snake River and below Priest Rapids and 

 McNary dams on the Columbia River. They 

 will be recaptured at collecting sites at 

 McNary, the Dalles and Bonneville dams, and 

 finally in the estuary at Astoria, Oreg., be- 

 fore the young fish go to the sea. 



