The Alaska daily empire., 1919-08-13
HOW FISH FRY
 ARE PLANTED
 AND PROTECTED
Interesting Facts About the Work of A. J Sprague and the Fish and
 Game Club

| WOTklUS ulupT lHe ulGtCllOH Ol A J. Sprague, its fish culturist in chief,
 the Alaska Fish and Game Club has been conducting a series of expert
 ments in salmon propagation during l the past two years which promise
 more than ordinary success in south eastern Alaska. Some of them may
 prove of value in prOpagating sal
 mon the world over.
 Reading the report of the Ameri l can-Canadian Fisheries Conference
 on the depleted salmon supply of the Fraser river and the Puget Sound,
 he experiments made by Mir. Sprague md other members of the club stand | put in relief.
 After having spent over 9 years studying the artificial propagation of fish, IS years of that time with the | U & Bureau of Fisheries, Mr Sprague decided that new trails must pc broken in methods of artificial | salmon propagation, and that these | rails should lead, as closely as pos. ,ible, along the lines nature had laid l down.
 The club as a whole has come to | certain definite conclusions in regard | 70 salmon culture, one of them being, | hat salmon hatcheries, as they are l LOW conducted, are not success. The growth of fry held in the 1 hatchery in ten months was about | hrcc inches, whereas, those placed | ,nder natural conditions was from l tight to twelve inches. The feed ,vailable, usually beef liver, is not 7! sufficient, and cohoe fry survived,
 liter passing from the food sack
 'tage. with difficulty. Cohoe, dog,
 nd hump-back salmon breed in wa | CTS draining tundra land, and this | nature fact has been taken into con
 alteration by the club in it's expert 1 nents.
 | The character of many of the
 dreams in southeastern Alaska differ | rom salmon streams in many ether | ections in that the streams have heir sources, except larger rivers, | mountain ranges lying very near l he coast The streams are, there | ore. short and swift. Many of them raverse hard rocky formation which | levelop waterfalls barring salmon, l )r any other fish, absolutely from | scension It is this feature of the 1 ;tream formation that bids fair to olay into the hands of salmon cultur- | sts in this section and of which the
 club has taken advantage.
 | It has been learned that the wa CTS above many of the higher water
 alls are absolutely barren of fish
 fife. At worst, speaking from the
 ;lub's standpoint, only mountain
 ,rook trout, about six or seven in l hes in length, are found. Many of
 hese streams were found to have
 heir source in lakes, into which,
 ,ther streams flow in turn. Here | were natural lakes, into which the
 ed salmon would have come them l ;elves to spawn, did insurmountable
 carriers not prevent. Those not hay | ng lakes in their course could be
 ised for dog, hump-backs, and CO.,
 loes. The fact that these species did 1 ascend to the foot of the falls, was
 proof of their fitness indisputable. The conditions were ideal
 Having no salmon eggs at first, and
 ocal rod sportsmen proving the most
 susceptible to his idea, Mir. Sprague
 secured from Colorado, shipment
 of Eastern Brook Trout. These were planted in several barren lakes close
 enough to Juneau for local sports linen to observe the results, which
 they did with interest, as they hoped, lin the course of time, to be able to
 have better fishing than they had
 previously, and much nearer town.
 The fish thrived in these hitherto barren waters, beyond their expecta-
 tions Those planted a year and a
 half ago, are said to be near pound
 and a half in weight
 | Planting fertilized sockeye eggs in | the gravel and sands of barren l streams flowing into barren lakes.
 which in turn, emptied into sockeye streams. was MT. Sprague's next
 move, followed by planting fcrtilizeG dog-salmon eggs in other barren
 streams, such as they try to ascend, and would, did not Instructions in tervene. Later, when they had been secured and developed in the hatch cry, eyed eggs were planted in the same Or similar lakas apd cfroams