The Washington weekly post., 1899-06-06


-Fish Commis-lou Has Been Inves'igai-
ing with a View TO Preserving an Indies
try Of Vast Value to This Country.
\ study OF the nest-building and other
curious habits os Alaskan salmon las
/ been engaging the attentions OF the
/ United States Fish Commission recently
1t h2s become apparent that. notwith-
standing the almost incredible number CT
those valuable fishes now caught an
nually tn the streams Of Uncle sam
arctic province, the time will arrive be-
fore very long when the great industry
depending upon them viii be ruined BY
reckless methods o. destruction. and IL
can only be revived by the artificial hatch
ins of the species. Hence the Importance
of acquiring definite knowledge with re
gaTd to their life history. though rUeA
of this In all probability viii remain Tor
ever uncertain. lnasmuch as the salmon
pass must of their time in the ocean
where and how. nobody can say-going
TO the sea when they have attained
I length of four or five inches, and not re-
/ turning therefrom until they are ready t.
spawn and TO die.
One of the strangeSt things about these
/ fishes is that the reproduction of their
/ kind means death to them. A shad swims
/ up the Potomac or the Delaware deposits
| her spawn. and-if not captured In net
/ returns 10 her home in the ocean On the
other hand. the salmon, both female and
male, when their breeding-time arrives
! enter a river. vigorous and brilliant
! scaled. and, after short time spent in
| irr TlpT
/ wrecks of their former selves. Having
/ built their nests and laid their eggs. they
perish, not one returning 10 salt water out
/ of ali the myTiads that have ascended the
stream.
Average Salmon Output.
{ The gigantic development Of the Alas
kan fishery may be judged from the fact
] that the average salmon output Of the
waters Of the Territory per annum, for
1 canning purposes, is about 47,000.C90
! pOuldS-an estimate which does not in
| clude large quantities that are salted.
| IN round numbers. the output is worth
! S3,coOOO year TO the Gamers; and yet
the latter are earnestly engaged in an ef-
| fort TO Kill the goose that lays the golden
| eggs. They barricade the streams near
their mouths, 50 that not fish can pos
| sibiy ascend to spawn. and use nets to
catch every salmon that arrives for the
purpose of breeding. Already many rivers
have been made barren of salmon by
! these methods, and the supply has been
! kept up only by the mutipicatio of
| cannertes and the incidental extension of
| the fishing operations over a greater ter
| ritory.
The newly-s;udied nest-building habits
of the salmon. as observed in Alaska are
| very remarkable indeed. When the fe-
| naie Is ready to spawn, she seeks piece
of sandy or gTavelly bottom In a pool or
eddy, where the water is two or three
| feet deep, and there she makes an exca-
vatton by plowing the sand with her nose,
and scraping ii out with her tah The
! cavity thus formed may be as much a.
three feet in diameter and eighteen inches
in depth. Here Mistress Salmon deposits
her eggs, and her chosen mate ferlil!Zes
them with his milt. after which they
are covered by pushing the gravel over
them, thus completing the nest. After
ward. the parents remain close by. fight
ing off every fish that ventures to come
near, until at length they become ex-
tremely emaciated and die
The eggs deposited in this manner are
not hatched for three or four months
bat early in the spring the young fry can
be seen by taking up handful of gravel
| from the bottom. On being released. they
vriggle back and bLrrOw in the sand
again. At five months after the spawning
the young fishes begin to dodge about
under stones and sticks, come to the sur
face occasionally, nibble at some passing
object and dart back again. While still
in the egg. they are exposed to many
enemies and the worst of these are tie
I I'LL
which follow the salmon to the spawning
beds for no other purpose than TO steal
and eat the eggs. OF these they devoUr
Immense numbers. sometimes swallowing
them actually as they drop from the
mother salmon. The salmon are on their
/ guard against the trout and frequently
: dash after them. but the latter are quick
, er and invariably get away.
FIsh by thu Million.
> The last state Of the breeding fish 6
, | Illustrated by a graphic account OF a fish
commission expert, who. in describing a
scene Oh the upper waters of an Alaskan
river, says:
: There were thousands upon thousands
of salmon, and other thousands dead on
the banks or floating down with the cur
e rent. They struggled over rifles only d
| few inches deep, and when disturbed
dashed aoout, frequently throwing them
selves bodily on shore. Ii seemed In
places as though We were wading in sal
- mon; they would often strike ones leg
= with considerable force or swim between
{ ones feet, and in walking we al times
stepped on them, and frequently touched
: them with the foot But what change
f Rad come over these fish from the time
! they first entered, Those that were speLt
and some thai had not spawned, We're IL
| all stages of decay-repulsiVe looking OBJ
iects. all dying some in their last strug
e gi,s. The flesh of many wes deeply cash
. ed. the fms frayed and torn, the Skin
I / gene In places, showing dirty and sickly
j looking yellow flesh, the body thin ant
u ! en- nac!ated. The water was polluted, ant
: | had A bad smell which was intensified bS
q the stencil from the decaying salmon or
=, / the beach
! Several species Of salmon frequent Alas
kan rivers, the finest Of which il th'
: king" salmon. Next in popular esteem
= | comes the reddish" then the ''oOh1,' an,
> lastly the "humpback" lastly. that il u
say, with the exception OF the dog sal
> | mon. which, though really worthless. i
4 packed 10 a small extent by some can
a ners The reddish Is really inferior 4
the "cOhO." but the deep red color OF III
c flesh gives il exceptional market value
I, Sometimes humpbacks and log salmon
i are packed together under hunpbacK la
: beIs. Because the European market de
n mands an exceptionally high grade :
: goods. yielding propOrtionate prices. tn
= choicest OF the pack of canned s2lrno!
> goes to Europe. The eans-carefull!
K weighed, and each containing an OuLc
= over a pound as insurance against ligh
WeighI-aTe most carefully Inspected he
4 fore being shipped. and the fisa are IN
II very best What remains OF TIE pack 0
I. | redfish together with Ihe cob lcs. hump
! backs. dog salmon, and tips anc t1lis,
"a remain in the home market.
/. I.hor-ssxIny Dsxiess