236 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
water, and from which but few survive, as it is doubtful if but very few, if any, ever return from the 
upper streams which they asceud after the spawning season, at least when such upper waters are far 
removed from the sea. If they liavo the exposures in the deeper waters of the sea which follow them 
in the shoal water of Monterey Bay, their lives are indeed beset with constant risk. I saw daily in the 
bay on the fishing-grounds the enemies and consumers of the salmon at their deadly work, in the form 
of seals, porpoises, sharks, and cowfish. Oneday when I wasout, which was very foggy, I was startled 
by the uprising of a curionsl}' peaked hump two boat lengths ahead. It seemed to me like a boat’s 
end elevated with a black cloth over it, but a moment later revealed the half of an enormous 
bewhiskered sea lion, which, raising itself half out of the water, revealed a form which must have 
weighed at least a ton. In its mouth was a large salmon, which it had evidently just caught. The insati- 
able appetite of these monsters of the deep, of which hundreds abound in the vicinity, would indicate 
that they are not slow to avail themsidves of the salmon invasion. Well, I thought, the part which 
man plays in the devastation of the salmon in the sea is but trifling comjiared with that which occurs 
from their natural enemies beneath the waters. 
It is clear that the salmon of Monterey Bay are those which belong to the Sacramento or San 
Joaquin Eiver group. Their average weight confirms this, and that they are not of the Columbia 
Fiver. The distance from Monterey Bay to San Francisco Bay, into which the Sacramento and San 
Jomiuiu rivers pour, is about 90 miles. Monterey Bay and that of Santa Cruz, a few miles north, and 
at some of the sounds and bays north on the coast, are the, onlj^ pilaces known where the salmon is 
found engaged in taking his food, and where it can be caught with fresh-li.sh bait. It certainly pre- 
sents a favorable opportunity for studying the salmon in its normal condition, in its prime, engaged 
in seeking its natural food. Hero its manners and peculiarities can be examined with ease, and some 
knowledge obtained of the class of food upon which it best thrives. All this can be obtained and the 
salmon brought to gaff in his superior condition before the advanced condition of the organs of repro- 
duction have reduced its delicious flavor or weakened the vigor of its eft'orts. 
Tins year the fishery promises to be much more extensively followed than la.styear. 
Professional fishermen •owning boats and regular boatmen will resort to the bay from 
more or less remote places. Early in June some fish were taken, but a period of stormy 
weather drove them off.’ On June 13 some fishing was going on. 
An interesting point connected with this subject is that these are undoubtedly the 
fish that constitute a paid of the fall run of salmon in the Sacramento Eiver. Last 
fall the Sacramento Eiver fishermen took a number of salmon in their nets which had 
hooks in their mouths — clearly fish which had been snagged in Monterey Bay. 
THE COLUMBIA BIVEB. 
Explanatory remarl’s — The time was insufficient and the conditions not suitable 
for an examination of the salmon fisheries of the entire river. The extremely high water 
had seriously affected the fishing in the whole upper river, and a visit at that time 
would not have been satisfactory even if the indefinite suspension of railroad traffic 
and the uncertainty of water transportation had not rendered the contemplated visit 
to the Cascades and The Dalles impracticable. 
The inquiry which gave promise of the most satisfactory results was the examina- 
tion of the important fisheries and large canning' interests of the lower river, which 
were easily accessible and afforded the opportunity of inspecting every prominent 
method of fishing in the river except that with wheels. It was therefore in Astoria, 
the great center of the salmon industry in the river, that most of the time available for 
the examination of the Columbia Eiver basin was passed. Here and in Portland, 
where some time was also spent, it was possible to meet fishermen and canners from 
all parts of the river. 
The accompanying memoranda on the salmon industry sim])ly represent mostly the 
personal inquiries and observations of the writer, and are far from being a complete 
account of the business. Many things were observed which, while of great interest 
