SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES OF SWIFTSUKE DANK 
757 
The Anderson River spawning escapement has been estimated from 1925-34 in 
the Dominion Reports. The lowest escapement was 7,500 in 1933, the highest 135,000 
in 1929, with an average for the 9 years of 55,000 sockeyes. In the only 2 years for 
which figures are given, 1928 and 1932, the catch was 15,000 and 28,000 respectively. 
The total annual run may therefore be considered as approximately 75,000. 
The run to the Somass River appears to be larger. The Stamp River falls were 
formerly difficult for sockeye to ascend, most of the run to the Somass River spawning 
in Sproat Lake. In 1927, a permanent fishway was constructed, so that the run now 
spawns in Sproat Lake, Great Central Lake and Ash Lakes ; all of considerable extent. 
The Reports of the Dominion give the catch of Somass River sockeyes as 24,000 in 
1928, 47,860 in 1930, 77,000 in 1932, 60,000 in 1933, and 75,000 in 1934. The escape- 
ment is unknown but, if we assume it was 50 percent, the run since 1932 has been 
close to 150,000. 
The annual run then to Barclay Sound appears to total in the neighborhood of 
225,000 sockeyes. That a few of these fish may be captured on Swiftsure Bank is 
not impossible and it is unlikely that this can be adequately determined until such 
time as sockeyes are tagged on the bank. 
PUGET SOUND STREAMS 
The Skagit River, the only sockeye stream in the Puget Sound area, is no longer 
an important producer of sockeye salmon although it once supported a fair run. 
The Baker Lake sockeye hatchery, built in 1896 by the State of Washington on the 
Baker River, tributary to the Skagit, was bought by the Bureau of Fisheries in 1899 
and has operated continuously since. The records of tliis station previous to 1916 
were burned, but the remainder have been available. 
The annual escapement to Baker River from 1898-1901 was estimated at 20,000 
sockeyes. Within a few years the run had become somewhat reduced, and by 1916 
the escapement was about 5,000 sockeyes per year. The escapement of 14,558 in 
1924 w^as due to the closing of the salmon traps in the waters east of Wliidbey Island 
during that season. The building of the Baker River dam destroyed all but 40 fish 
of the 1925 run, but since then the greater portion of those reaching the dam has 
been caught and hoisted over. 
This small run of sockeyes is distinguished from that of the Fraser River by the 
season of its migration. The traps east of Whidbey Island, which catch only Skagit 
River sockeye, commence taking them by the first of June. The run, which reaches 
its peak during the last week in June or occasionally the first week in July, and is 
practically over by July 20, averages about a month earlier than that to the Fraser 
River. The traps on West Beach usually show two modes in their sockeye catches; 
a small early mode due to Skagit River fish and a later one when the bulk of the 
Fraser River sockeyes are migrating. 
GULF OF GEORGIA STREAMS 
The only sockeye stream in the Gulf of Georgia proper is Saginaw Creek (see 
fig. 1). The 1926 catch, mentioned as being very small, was reported as 3,000 sock- 
eyes, while the escapement was estimated as between 18,000 and 19,000 fish. 
