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the result that the fishing season is being extended to cover the 
runs of all five of the salmon species found in our waters. This 
lengthening of the season is of marked benefit to our regular 
fishermen, and with the development of our other fisheries, it is 
confidently believed that these hardy men may find ready employ- 
ment during the entire year.” 
Local Conditions. 
Concerning the habits of the salmon in British Columbia 
waters, there is a wide field for investigation, and though a good 
deal has been accomplished there is still much to be learned. 
The facts as to the conditions governing and affecting 
spawning; the time of their going to sea; the effects, injurious 
or otherwise, of dumping the offal of the canneries into the river ; 
the economic results of the hatchery and the methods of incubation 
and disposal of the fry; the degree of protection necessary, and the 
proper limits of a close season are not to be determined wholly by 
experience elsewhere, but by local observation and systematic 
investigation extending over a series of years. This the Provincial 
Government, by the establishment of a Fisheries Department and 
the appointment of a Fisheries Commissioner, has undertaken to 
determine, and with every promise of success. The efforts of Mr. 
Babcock in the direction of acquiring useful data are demonstrated 
in his annual reports bearing on many matters of practical interest, 
and in the erection of a hatchery, most modern in its equipment and 
of great capacity, near Seton Lake, in the Lillooet District. 
Salmon Canning. 
The methods used in handling and packing salmon have been 
greatly improved—to such an extent, in fact, that after the fish is 
taken from the net it is practically untouched by hand during the 
process of cleaning, cutting up and canning. The canneries are 
now equipped with ingenious machines which perform the work 
with a rapidity and precision unattainable in the old days, when 
Indians and Chinese were employed. The salmon are taken from 
the boats by a conveyor which delivers them on a table convenient 
to a machine called the “Iron Chink,’ which does the work of 
many Chinamen, and from whom it derives its name. The Chink 
is fitted with an intricate arrangement of knives and cutters which 
slice off the heads, tails and fins, scales and splits the fish and 
removes the entrails. Another conveyor takes the fish to the 
cutter where it is divided into convenient pieces to fit the cans. 
During these processes the fish is sprayed continuously with water, 
