Douglas Island news., 1903-11-11
Matched by Hand.

Fish as told by trederlcK doore Ill Ine Scientific American.
 Of recent years the annual catch Of salmon in the Pacific States and Alaska (which latter supplies half the pack of the world) has been over 100,OOO,OOO pounds. In 1899 the quantity of sal mon packed was 2,450,OOO cases of 4S- pound cans. The weight of the fish represented by this pack, together with the large quantities sold fresh, salted, and smoked, was about 175,OO0,- 900 pounds in market value, S9,OOo,OOO.
 According to its species and size each salmon lays from few hundred to thousands of eggs at each spawning. Although the lays are so multitudinous the time required for the hatch and development of fish is, according to the temperature of the water in which he is, and his variety, from three to five years; the eggs are often largely destroyed; some are diseased and never hatch; some of the fish are taken off bv disease. and many become the food of other fish. When in the rivers they are comparatively safe from enemies. but those in Alaskan waters are destroyed even there by otters, ospreys, and fishers, and are terribly slaughtered at the mouths ofthe rivers when entering and leaving them, by seals and sea-lions. The enormous catch, therefore, were it not for the government propagation of the fish and the restocking of the rivers, would have by now exterminated salmon, or exhausted them for all commercial purposes, at least, in western waters. Since the work of propagating the fish began in 1873 on the McCloud River, 1t has grown to large proportions and engages the attention of all the coast States as we'll as the general govern ment, and is now more extensive than ever before.
 When salmon return from the sea each year to spawn they crowd up the rivers most consistently, and have been seen so far up the rivulets that form the head waters of the Sacramento that their bodies were exposed to the air. No matter how far the headwaters are from the ocean they will press forward until stopped by impossible Instructions or water too shallow for them to swim in. As they ascend the rivers they are caught at the gov ernment stations in gill nets, fyke nets, pounds, weirs, seins, wheels, and other devices. A species called the chinook is the principal salmon artifcially propagated, and while the propagation at other stations through out the country is about the same, the work on that specimen at tho hatcheries on the McCloud River and Battle Creek Tributaries to the Sacramento) are taken for examination. In 1899 the number of eggs of this variety alone collected by the commission was 4S,- O43OOO, of which about 43,775,0O0 were successfully matched and planted. At these two stations the ascent of the fish is stopped by heavy wooded racks or barricades, below which their capture is effected by various means. After they are secured they are, for convenience in handling, placed in pens or live boxes, the ripe or nearly ripe males and females being kept separate. When the eggs are taGen in large quantities separate compart- ments are maintained for the ripe males, ripe females, nearly ripe females, and males partially spent that 1t may be necessary to use again.
 The fish are usually stripped every day, as the eggs of the females confined in the rens are likely to be injured within the fish, which is serious ob- jection to keeping the parent in con fnement any longer than is absolutely necessary. The spawning operations are conducted on a platform over the compartments containing the ripe fish. which are accessible through hinged covers set in the flooring. When taking the eggs one or two men stand ready with dip-nets to hand the females to the spawn-taker, and one or more per form the same office with the males. After the salmon are taken from the pens they are held suspended in the net until their violent struggles are over, after which they become quiet enough to handle and the eggs and milt can be expressed easily. All