^-3 Book TRANSACTIONS OF THE PACIFIC FISHERIES SOCIETY 1914 TRANSACTIONS OF THE PACIFIC FISHERIES SOCIETY AT ITS FIRST ANNUAL MEETING June 10, 11 and 12, 1914 AT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON SEATTLE, WASH. PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 1915. X 1914-1915 Elected at the First Annual Meeting in Seattle, Wash., for the ensuing year, including the meeting to be held at San Fran- cisco, Cal., in 1915: President Carl Westerfeld, San Francisco, Cal. Vice-President Henry O'Malley, Seattle, Wash. Vice-President Trevor Kincaid, Seattle, Wash. Secretary John N. Cobb, Seattle, Wash. Treasurer Russell Palmer, Seattle, Wash. Barton W. Evermann, San Francisco, Cal. ; C. McLean Fraser, Nanaimo, British Columbia ; Charles F. Holder, Pasadena, Cal. ; Leslie H. Darwin, Seattle, Wash. ; M. J. Kinney, Port- land, Ore. ; Ward T. Bovver, Seattle, Wash., and M. D. Baldwin, Kalispell, Montana. By transfer The White House, CONTENTS Business Sessions : Registered Attendance 10 New Members 10 Committees Appointed : Nomination of Officers 12 Auditing Treasurer's Report 12 Constitutional Amendment 12 Election of Officers - 13 Resolutions 14 Time and Place of Next Meeting 15 Papers and Discussions: Why the Pacific Fisheries Society was Organized. By Carl Westerfeld 19 The Relations of the Federal Government with the Fishing In- dustry of the Pacific Coast. By Hugh M. Smith 23 A Proposed School of Fisheries. By Trevor Kincaid 29 Some Neglected Fishery Resources of the Pacific Coast. By John N. Cobb 39 Angling and Netting; The Conservation of the Marine Fishes of Southern California. By Charles F. Holder 51 Pacific Coast Biological Station, Departure Bay, B. C. By C. McLean Fraser 61 Salmon Hybridization. By E. Victor Smith 71 Safeguarding the Salmon. By L. M. Rice 79 Improvements Necessary in the Hatching of Salmon. By S. Butts 81 Rearing and Feeding Salmon Fry in California. By W. H. Shebley 85 . Rearing and Feeding Salmon Fry in Oregon. By R. E. Clanton 91 Feeding Salmon Fry. By M. J. Kinney 95 List of Members of the Society 101 Constitution 104 PART I BUSINESS SESSIONS Transactions of the Pacific Fisheries Society On March 11, 1914, a meeting of persons interested in the upbuilding and perpetuating of the great fisheries of the Pacific slope was held in Seattle, Wash. Those present at the meeting were the following: Carl Westerfeld, member California Fish and Game Commission, San Francisco, Cal. ; E. Lester Jones, Deputy U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries, Washington, D. C. ; Henry O'Malley, Pacific Coast Superintendent of Hatcheries for U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Oregon City, Oregon ; Prof. Trevor Kincaid, head of the Department of Zoology, Univer- sity of Washington, Seattle, Wash. ; John N. Cobb, editor Pacific Fisherman, Seattle, Wash. ; Prof. E. Victor Smith, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. ; E. E. Ainsworth, Seattle, Wash.; William J. Bothwell, Seattle, Wash.; L. H. Darwin, Washington Fish and Game Commissioner, Seattle, Wash. ; H. C. Fassett, Assistant Alaska Salmon Agent, Wash- ington, D. C. ; Miller Freeman, publisher Pacific Fisherman, Seattle, Wash., and Russell Palmer, manager Pacific Fisher- man, Seattle, Wash. M. G. Munly, Esq., Portland, Oregon; R. E. Clanton, Oregon Superintendent of Hatcheries, Port- land, Oregon ; M. J. Kinney, member Oregon Fish Commis- sion, Portland, Oregon, and Ward T. Bower, Pacific Coast Agent, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Seattle, Wash., authorized the use of their names in connection with the formation of the society. It was decided to form a temporary organization of a society to be known as the Pacific Fisheries Society, and to hold a meeting later in the year for the purpose of making the organization a permanent one. The following officers were elected : President, Carl Westerfeld, San Francisco, Cal. ; vice-president, Henry O'Malley, Oregon City, Ore. ; vice-presi- dent, Professor Trevor Kincaid, Seattle, Wash. ; secretary, John N. Cobb, Seattle, Wash., and treasurer, Russell Palmer, Seattle, Wash. 10 Pacific Fisheries Society The first annual meeting- was held at University of Wash- ington, Seattle, Wash., Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, June 10, 11 and 12, 1914. Wednesday, June 10, 1914. The meeting was called to order by the president, Mr. Carl Westerfeld, of San Francisco, Cal. The president then intro- duced Professor Edmond S. Meany, who on behalf of the University made an address of welcome in which he outlined the history of higher education in the United States. President Westerfeld responded briefly for the members. The secretary, Mr. John N. Cobb, read the minutes of the last meeting, which were approved as read. Registered Attendance. The president then ordered the roll-call of members to be taken. Ten members were registered for the meeting, as fol- lows : Carl Westerfeld, Henry O'Malley, Trevor Kincaid, John N. Cobb, E. Victor Smith, L. H. Darwin, Miller Freeman, Russell Palmer, Ward T. Bower and M. J. Kinney. The secretary then read the following list of applicants for membership, all of whom were elected : For Life Membership — Wm. G. Henshaw and Henry F. Fortmann. For Membership — E. A. Sims, B. W. Evermann, Ray B. Heacock, C. G. Conn, I. N. Hylen, T. J. Guaragnella, *J. P. Millett, H. L. Kelly, Jr., Theodore Opsvind, *Ira B. Ford, Robert Forbes, C. H. Buschmann, *T. J. Gorman, M. D. Baldwin, Henry Wilke, W. E. Persell, Emery L. Fletcher. Charles A. Kofoid, Fred. Patching, A. E. Culver, Thos. S. Manning. F. M. Newbert, James H. Gyger, George O. Laws, Alfred Greenebaum, Jeflf'n F. Aloser, Wm. B. Hobart, *W. K. Hancock, *C. McLean Fraser, Frank Berry, *Will A. Lowman, August Buschmann, Hugh C. Mitchell, Carl Spuhn, James T. Barron, Theodore Parsons, H. A. Schulz, ♦Waldo L. Schmitt, *John M. Crawford, A. E. Doney, Walter L Mansfield, *E. W. Hunt, Robert I. Duke, F. E. Booth. IVIartin C. Erismann, Philip J. Brady, Dennis Winn, *Edwin Wentworth, *Benjamin Baldridge, G. H. Lambson, Henry Dovle, W. W. Richards, William F. Thompson, *H. L. Osterud, J. J. Brenner, Dan Hurley, John Blass, L. P. Ouellett, J. B. Bowman, J. A. Morrow, J. H. Deer, W. M. Beach, *Hans B. Joyce, *L. M. Rice, Ernest Schaeffle, *A. H. Mahone, *Harry J. Henver, *Arch. T P Capell, *H. B. Duncanson, H. S. McGowan, Geo. C. Johnson, J. M. Peters, Frank M. Warren, O. C. Hanson, T. C. McHugh, *W. H. Sheblev, John F. Siebe, David Starr Jordan, Edward H. Hamlin, Charles F. Holder, N. B. Nidever, Stephen Butts, Charles W. Dorr, *J. R. Russell, *Henry Baldridge, H. B. VanDuzer, *Svdney E. Johnson, *H. P. A. Wold, H. F. Allen, J. H. Scott, D. R. Helser, Ingham, First Annual Meeting 11 S. K. Taylor, R. D. Simmons, Chas. Brenner, Thos. O'Neill, *J. E. Parsons, *Clarence L. Anderson, *L. E. Mayhall, John H. Gardner, *C. P. Henkel, *John Leuenberger, *Wm. H. McFarland, *Alexandcr P. Romine, John D. McGowan, William Shultz, Jack Young, *Edward Cunningham, *Lyle Greenwood. Note. — Those designated by an asterisk were present at the meeting. On motion of Mr. John N. Cobb, which was seconded, Dr. Hugh M. Smith, U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries, of Wash- ington, D. C., who was present, was elected an Honorary Member of the Society. President : The United States Bureau of Fisheries has very kindly placed at our disposal the steamer Albatross. The Albatross will make a trip on the Sound this afternoon, leaving Lillico's float at the foot of Spring street at 2 :00 o'clock, and all the members of the Society and their friends are invited to be present on this cruise. The naturalist on board, Mr, Schmitt, is going to demonstrate some of the apparatus, and I am sure it will be a most interesting trip, and we will be glad to have you with us. The Society then adjourned for the day. The afternoon was spent aboard the U. S. Fisheries Steamer Albatross, which made a short cruise in Puget Sound, during the course of which Mr. Waldo L. Schmitt, the naturalist, demonstrated the interesting scientific apparatus aboard, and the members and their friends also had an opportunity of wit- nessing a haul with the beam trawl, which brought up a number of interesting specimens. Thursday, June 11, 1914. The greater part of the morning session was devoted to the reading and discussion of two papers. Dr. Hugh M. Smith, "The Relations of the Federal Government with the Fishing Industry of the Pacific Coast." Trevor Kincaid, "A Proposed School of Fisheries." Upon motion of Mr. Miller Freeman, the secretary was directed to prepare a resolution expressing the sentiments of this Society with respect to the providing of proper funds for the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, particularly with respect to the work on the Pacific Coast, and to forward a copy of the resolu- tion to the delegation of the Pacific States in Congress. 12 Pacific Fisheries Society Mr. W. A. Lowman, president of the Puget Sound Salmon Canners Association, in the name of the association invited the members of the Society to a dinner at the Arctic Club at 6 -.30 this evening, which invitation was accepted with the thanks of the Society. It was moved, seconded and carried that the secretary, as- sisted by Professor Kincaid, be authorized to prepare a resolu- tion for presentation to-morrow, not only sanctioning the estab- lishment of a Fishery School, but urging the announcement of the immediate establishment of such an institution in the Uni- versity of Washington. The president appointed the following committees : Nomi- nating Committee — Messrs. Miller Freeman, M. J. Kinney, Ward T. Bower, W. H. Shebley and E. Victor Smith. Audit- ing- Committee — Messrs. Henry O'Malley, E. W. Hunt and Waldo L. Schmitt. Mr. John N. Cobb offered the following amendment to Article HI of the Constitution, the article as amended to read as follows : ARTICLE III.— Officers. The officers of this Society shall be a president and a vice-president, who shall be ineligible for election to the same office until a year after the expiration of their term ; a vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive committee of seven, which, with the officers before named, shall form a council and transact such business as may be neces- sary when the Society is not in session — four to constitute a quorum. The amendment was adopted. In the afternoon the members visited the White River State Flatchery, near Auburn. In the evening- the dinner given the Society by the Puget Sound Salmon Canners Association was thoroughly enjoyed by all present. After the dinner a number of impromptu addresses were made by members and others present. Friday, June 12, 1914. Report of Nominating Committee. Mr. Miller Freeman : The Nominating Committee rec- ommends the election for the ensuing year of the officers who have filled the respective positions during the time since the preliminary organization was formed in March, as follov/s: President, Carl Westerfeld; vice-president, Henry O'Mal- First Annual Meeting 13 ley ; vice-president, Trevor Kincaid ; secretary, John N. Cobb, and treasurer, Russell Palmer. Moved, seconded and carried that the above be elected as the officers of the Society for the coming- year. The committee recommended that the following be elected as an Executive Committee : Barton W. Evermann, of San Francisco, Cal. ; C. McLean Eraser, Nanaimo, British Columbia; Charles F. Holder, Pasa- dena, California ; Leslie H. Darwin, Seattle, Wash. ; M. J. Kinney, Portland, Oregon ; Ward T. Bower, Seattle, Wash., and M. D. Baldwin, Kalispell, Montana. Moved, seconded and carried that the Executive Committee as named be elected. A telegram from Governor Ernest Lister, of Washington, and a letter from E. Lester Jones, U. S. Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries, Washington, D. C, regretting their inability to be present, were read by the secretary. Prof. Trevor Kincaid: I would like to move that the secretary be authorized to send the following telegram to the president of the American Fisheries Society, conveying the greetings of this Society : Prof. Henry B. Ward, President American Fisheries Society, Urbana, Illinois : The Pacific Fisheries Society in its First Annual Session sends greet- ings to its sister society. (Signed) John N. Cobb, Secretary. Motion seconded and carried. The following telegram was received from Prof. Ward in reply : Urbana, III., June 13, 1914. John N. Cobb, Secretary, Pacific Fisheries Society, Seattle, Wn. : American Fisheries Society congratulates its new sister on her splen- did outlook for the future. (Signed) Henry B. Ward, President. Mr. E. W. Hunt : I move that this Society extend a vote of thanks to Dr. Hugh M. Smith for attending the first meet- ing of this Society and giving us the benefit of his experience and knowledge. Motion seconded and carried. Mr. Miller Freeman : I move that a vote of thanks be prepared in proper form and sent by mail to the proper author- ities, thanking the University faculty for courtesies extended to us during this session. Motion second and carried. 14 Pacific Fisheries Society The following papers were read and discussed : John N. Cobb, ''Some Neglected Fishery Resources of the Pacific Coast" ; Dr. Charles F. Holder, "Angling- and Netting and the Conservation of the Marine Fishes of Southern California." The latter paper was read by Mr. Osterud in the absence of the author. C. McLean Fraser, "The Nanaimo Marine Biological Laboratory." Friday Afternoon, June 12, 1914. The secretary offered the following resolution which he had been ordered to prepare at a previous session : Whereas, it is noticed in the daily press that the Appropriations Committee of the National House of Representatives has failed to in- clude in the Sundry Civil Bill adequate provision for the carrying on of the arduous and important duties with respect to the fisheries of the Pacific Coast laid by federal law upon the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries ; and, Whereas, the products of the commercial fisheries of the Pacific Coast sell for an aggregate sum of nearly $50,000,000, there is invested in vessels, boats, packing establishments, etc., over $40,000,000, while over 35,000 persons are employed in all branches of the industry ; and, Whereas, the present equipment of the Bureau for carrymg on this important work is totally inadequate for the proper performance of it. One small steamer alone is available for guarding the 25,000 miles of coast line in Alaska, when at least eight additional vessels, with the nec- essary agents, crews, etc., should be provided. More salmon hatcheries should also be built, not alone in Alaska, but also in the States of Ore- gon, Washington, and California. There is no marine biological labora- tory available anywhere on the coast for working out the many problems which beset our fishermen, and such is urgently needed. Therefore, be it, Resolved, That it is the sense of the Pacific Fisheries Society that our Senators in Congress be most earnestly requested to exert them- selves to the utmost in securing from that body, at this session, the nec- essary funds required by the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries for conserving and perpetuating the great commercial fisheries of the Pacific Coast. Moved, seconded and carried that it be adopted as read. The secretary read the following resolution regarding the establishment of a Fishery School at the University of Wash- ington, and upon motion it was adopted: Whereas, it is understood by the Pacific Fisheries Society that the University of Washington has in contemplation the establishment of a Department of Fisheries in connection with the College of Science in said institution ; and. Whereas, the Society is convinced that the plan is a wise and timely measure, designed to foster the varied interests of the fishing industries of the Northwest ; therefore, be it Resolved, That the Pacific Fisheries Society heartily endorses the plan of establishing such a department and urges upon the authorities of the University the carrying out of this project with the least possible delay, and furthermore, the Society pledges itself to aid and support such department by every means within its power in case it is brought into existence. First Annual Meeting 15 Prof. E. Victor Smith read a paper on "Salmon Hybridiza- tion," which was discussed by the members. TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. After some discussion as to the place and time for holding the next meeting it was decided to hold the meeting in San Francisco, the date to be fixed by the Council. The following papers were read and discussed : L. M. Rice, "The Artificial Propagation of Salmon" ; S. Butts, "Improve- ments Necessary in the Hatching of Salmon" ; W. H. Shebley, "Feeding and Rearing of Salmon Fry in California" ; R. E. Clanton, "Rearing and Feeding Salmon Fry in Oregon" ; M. J. Kinney, "Feeding Salmon Fry." President: I am now going to ask Mr. O'Malley to pre- side, as I find it growing so late that I have to be going; but before I go I want to thank all the members for their courtesy shown me here and for the assistance they have rendered in making this meeting a great success. I hope that all of you will be able to attend the meeting next year, because I think we can do much good if we proceed along the lines we have mapped out for this Society. I will now say good-bye, and Mr. O'Malley, will you preside? The Society adjourned after the discussion on the above papers. PART II PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS WHY THE PACIFIC FISHERIES SOCIETY WAS ORGANIZED By Carl Westerfeld Member California Fish a)id Game Commission Some months ago the rapid development and growth of the fisheries on the Pacific Coast led a few who were inter- ested to meet in Seattle and organize the Pacific Fisheries Society. It was their object to bring about the co-operation of all those who are interested in fisheries. The American Fish- eries Society has accomplished much, but it has so vast a terri- tory to cover that it was thought an organization established on the Pacific Coast could better take care of our local interests. Heretofore, each state has been pursuing its own course without much reference to what was being done in neighbor- ing states, and with little more reference to what had been done by the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. The result has been that we have not always had that concerted and perfectly har- monious action which we should have ; the state and county and local fisheries departments have each been working in their own way without any co-operation ; no organization has existed on the Pacific Coast which has held meetings at which the heads of fisheries departments and fish culturists could fore- gather to discuss questions of vital interest to fisheries, and exchange ideas and make plans for the betterment of the ex- isting conditions of fisheries and obtain the help and co-opera- tion of the persons interested. There are in the waters of the West Coast of America, as far as known 1. More than 400 species of fish, 2. Several hundred species of crustaceans. 3. Several hundred species of mollusks. 4. Many species of marine algae. Of the fishes, more than 200 species are already known to possess considerable food value, but v,re have not utilized more than 20 to 25 species to any extent, and only 15 to 18 exten- sively. Of the crustaceans and mollusks, only a few species 20 Pacific Fisheries Society are utilized, although mauy more possess food value. Of the many species of marine algae, scarcely any use is made, al- though in Japan they constitute a very important article of food. The resources of our waters are as yet utilized only in very small part. It should be the purpose of this society to promote the development and proper utilization of the fishery resources of the Pacific Coast. The ocean fisheries present a field of practically unlimited development. Obviously, the development of the ocean fish- eries cannot be started until we know from past research, or such research as may be provided for, just what the location, extent, nature and possibilities of the various productive areas and species may be. To bring about the more adequate and proper utilization of the natural food, animals and plants that teem in the waters of our coast and in our fresh water streams and lakes, co- operation is necessary among the people interested. 1. The commercial fishermen. 2. The companies, great and small, engaged in putting up and handling fishery products. 3. The wdiolesale and retail dealers in fresh fish, oysters, clams and crabs. 4. The fish culturists and members of the State and Fed- eral fish commissions. 5. The anglers or those who go a-fishing for the joy and pleasure it brings. 6. The naturalists who are studying the problems of species, life histories and geographic distribution. Proper development of the fisheries, proper utilization of the products of the fisheries, the education of the public, the creation of a demand for fisherv products, the proper and ade- quate protection of the fisheries through intelligent fish cul- tural work and the enactment of proper laws and regulations can be brought about only through action and intelligent co- operation on the part of the various classes of persons and interests named above. Each must be willing to listen to the other and make use of the information and knowledge he is able to impart. First Annual Mcctiiii:; 21 Many, if not most, of the failures in this world could be avoided if we would listen to and profit by the experiences of others who are working in our, or related, lines. Taking up the classes seriatim : 1. The methods of the commercial fishermen are, as a rule, crude and very destructive to the fisheries. They are pro- vincial in character. An exchange of ideas among the com- mercial fishermen themselves, and conferences with the natural- ists, the fisli companies, the dealers in fresh fish and the fishery officials and fish culturists would help the commercial fisher- men immensely. 2. The fishery companies take too little interest in the fish- ermen and their methods. 3. The handlers of fresh fish, as a class, pa}- little attention to the manner of displaying the fish in their stalls. They seem not to know that many, very many, wouUl-be purchasers are turned away every day by the unattractive appearance of the fish offered for sale. 4. Fish culturists sometimes fail of the success they should attain and the State and Federal fish commissions fail to attain the success that should be theirs because they do not keep in touch with the students of fish and fishery problems on the one hand and the commercial fishery interests on the other. 5. The anglers' viewpoint is unique, and, in most part, can be greatly improved by an association and an exchange of ideas with the naturalists, fish culturists and commercial fish- ermen. 6. That naturalists, as a rule, have not been sufficiently concerned with the practical phases of the fishery problems. They have not always taken the trouble to put the results of their study and investigation before the fishermen, the fish cidlurists and the fishery officials. All of this goes to show the necessity for co-operation among these various classes of people. It is practically certain that the industrial development of the next generation on the Pacific Coast will mean the de- struction of the most important fresh water fisheries if the establishment and maintenance of factories and other indus- 22 Pacific Fisheries Society trial plants on our streams and the appropriation of water from the streams for irrigation and water-power is not wisely and energetically controlled by the Federal and State governments. The waters of our bays and streams are being polluted and the streams dammed and drained. In many instances water is so valuable for farming purposes that none is left for fish. Proper fishways and screens should be installed, but a rigid enforcement of the laws is frequently difficult to obtain because district attorneys and other prosecuting officers are often loath to offend large corporations for fear, as they say, of driving capital and industries out of their counties. In order that an enforcement of the law may be obtained, it is necessary that the people themselves be educated to the full realization of the importance and value of the fisheries. No law, however wise or beneficial to the public, can be properly enforced unless backed by public opinion and a favorable public opinion must be created by educating the people. There must be a unity of assault upon objectionable prac- tices, a unity of action in educating the people by giving the widest publicity to matters pertaining to the fisheries, and there must be a co-operation of all persons interested. There is no better or easier place to promote this co-operation than in the meetings of such a society as this. These are among the reasons why the society was organ- ized, and they are among the reasons why it should thrive. If it can bring about the co-operation indicated, it will prove of the greatest benefit to the fisheries of this coast. THE RELATIONS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WITH THE FISHING INDUSTRY OF THE PACIFIC COAST By Hugh M. Smith United States Commissioner of Fisheries From time to time, in the past few years, there has been a demand for a formal enunciation of poHcy on the part of the Federal Government with regard to its fishery activities on the Pacific Coast. While the Federal Government, as rep- resented by the Bureau of Fisheries, has no different policies for different parts of the country, there are conditions on the Pacific Coast which do not exist elsewhere ; and it is quite natural and proper that the exceedingly large and diversified fishing interests of California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska should want to know just what they may depend on or expect from the Federal Government in the way of aid, counsel, co- operation, and exercise of administrative authority. I have recently taken this matter up with the Secretary of Commerce, who has a very lively interest therein, and have secured his concurrence in and approval of the statement of official policy which will now be outlined. As to Artificial Propagation of Food Fishes: — This is the most effective form of aid which can be afforded to the fishing industry by the Federal Government. It will be extended in all fields as fast as circumstances or facilities will permit, and will be along the most modern lines, including the rearing of young salmon to the fingerling stage. In Alaska, the artificial propagation of salmon by private interests should not be further sanctioned as a reason for tax exemption. This does not imply any criticism, of private salmon culture per se, but of the system which, at this time, has few defenders and many opponents. The culture of salmon and all other fishes in public waters in Alaska should be under government direction and at government expense. The hatch- eries now maintained by the salmon canners should be fairly appraised and taken over by the government. 24 Pacific Fisheries Society As to the Planting of Non-Native Fishes: — Closely related to artificial propagation, and of great importance to the fishing industry, is the introduction into Pacific waters of non-indigen- ous fishes, from other parts of America or from abroad, which may be beneficial, but may, on the other hand, be decidedly injurious. For years the Bureau of Fisheries has been discouraging or resisting — not always successfully — the attempts of anglers and others to have the government make plants of well-known predaceous game fishes of the east into waters already contain- ing salmon and trout, or communicating with such waters. Everyone here must appreciate the great harm that can come from such introductions in streams that are the spawning grounds of salmon, through the destruction of their eggs and young. The policy has been adopted of referring all such applica- tions to the state fishery authorities ; and I may say that there seems to be entire accord between the states and the govern- ment in this matter. I should like to see this policy endorsed by a strong reso- lution of this society and by formal action of the state fishery officers ; and I am almost ready to advocate legislative action that will prohibit the planting of pike, black bass, pike perch, catfish, etc., in the Pacific states. The Bureau of Fisheries in this, as in other cases, is nothing more than the agent or serv- ant of the states. We hope that you will insist on a course that obviates our becoming parties to any act that, in its in- fluence on the local fishing industry, may be worse than a crime ; that is, a blunder. As to Regulation of the Fisheries: — In the sections where the bureau has control over the fisheries, its authority will be exercised primarily with a view to the maintenance of the fish supply and the permanence of the industry. Regulative mea- sures will be framed after due investigation, and will represent the minimum requirements of the various species. In other words, there will be the greatest freedom of fishery consistent with the preservation of the supply in the interest of all con- cerned. As to Technical Aid to the Fishing Industry: — It is be- First Annual Meeting 25 lieved that a legitimate and important field for governmental aid to the fishing industry is systematic work in behalf of the fisherman such as is done at agricultural experiment stations in aid of the farmer. For this purpose, the bureau has recom- mended the establishment on the Pacific Coast of a fishery experiment station, to be fully equipped with expert personnel and apparatus for (1) demonstrating the economic value of neglected aquatic products and the best means of preparing them for market, (2) improving the methods of preparing and handling fishery products, (3) experimenting with new fishing appliances or methods, (4) devising the best means of treating fishing- twine and nets so as to prolong their existence, and (5) in general conducting practical experiments, tests, etc., for the benefit of the fisheries and dependent industries, and also in the interest of artificial propagation. Such a station, as well as any other instrumentality of the bureau, should undertake any special experiments, investigations, or inquiries requested by the fishing interests when the results will have public value or application. As to Promotion of Fishery Trade: — The Department of Commerce, through the Bureau of Fisheries and other agen- cies, will institute special inquiries, by duly qualified assist- ants, regarding foreign markets, for the purpose of extending the trade in fishery products, particularly canned salmon and other similar products. In the belief that federal inspection of fish-packing plants, and federal certification as to the quality of products and the agreement of product and label, will promote the industry, and especially the export trade, the bureau is willing to ask authority to undertake this duty, provided it is desired by a majority of the fish packers, and provided, further, that such service cannot be more appropriately performed by another branch of the government. As to Fishery Investigation: — The important and much- needed work of surveying the off-shore fishing grounds and making known their resources, especially in the remoter parts of Alaska, will be continued as actively as the facilities and funds available will permit, and will be made a regular feature of the bureau's operations. It is the intention to keep the 26 Pacific Fisheries Society steamer "Albatross" regularly employed on this kind of work. As to Pacific Coast Headquarters: — In order to keep in close touch with fishing interests and to be of the greatest possible direct assistance to the fishing industry, the bureau has established permanent branch headquarters in Seattle, and will keep in charge a properly qualified assistant. This office will be made a repository of reports, charts, and data pertain- ing to the fisheries of the Pacific Coast ; and will be maintained solely with a view to its usefulness to the local fisheries. The success of the venture will depend largely on the fishing inter- ests themselves, whom we expect to make their needs known and see that they obtain what they want. As to Increasing the Facilities for Proper Performance of Duties Imposed by Lazu: — It is felt that the existing facilities for making the inspections and enforcing the fishery laws and regulations in Alaska are entirely inadequate, and are even such as to bring the department into disrepute. Congress has been asked to provide increased personnel and vessels, and there will be an annual appeal to Congress until the service is properly equipped for carrying out its functions. DISCUSSION President : I think we are all glad that we have had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Smith tell us about the activities of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, and it seems to me that each and every one of us ought to get in and work as hard as we can in order to help out in the matter of obtaining appropriations for the carrying on of this important work. It is particularly important to the northwestern part of the United States, and to Alaska. In order to carry on this work effectively the Bureau of Fisheries must have money and we must keep this matter continuously before the people until we finally force Congress to give an appropriation that is adequate to carry on the work that is absolutely necessary. I know from personal experience in California that we are always a little bit short of money, and from what I learn from the Bureau of Fisheries, they have the same complaint to make, only pos- sibly to a more marked degree than we have, and it is the duty of this society, and the duty of each one of us, among other things, to keep before the people the question of getting Congress to furnish the ap- propriation that should be given to the United States Bureau of Fish- eries. Now, if any one has any suggestions to offer in discussion we would be glad to hear them. Mr. Freeman: This matter of the providing of sufficient funds for the United States Bureau of Fisheries to carry on its operations is absolutely necessary. We know, particularly on the Pacific Coast, the great need of adding to the services of the Government. For many years the request has been made — and the feeling has grown stronger — that we have to have these services. We know that the fisheries re- sources are wonderfully important ; we realize the necessity of their First Annual Meeting 27 development, and, what is of even more importance, their conservation. It must be on some systematic plan. There is only one authority by which it can be properly done, and that is through the Federal Govern- ment, which, equipped with the machinery, talent, experience and all that it has, is best fitted to carry on these operations, and the reason why up to this time these operations have been so limited is solely be- cause of the lack of support by Congress. The reason for that lack of support is that the fisheries are generally out of sight of the majority of the people, in which they differ from the farming interests and the commercial interests, and it is impossible to arouse a sufficient amount of interest among the members of Congress to get them to take an active part in urging the providing of necesary funds. I want to urge, there- fore, the adoption of a resolution, in fact I move that the Secretary be empowered and authorized to draft a proper resolution for presentation before the close of this session which will cover this matter, expressing the sentiments of this body with respect to the providing of proper funds for the Bureau of Fisheries, particularly with relation to the Pacific Coast, and forwarding a copy of the resolution to the delegations of the Pacific States in Congress. President : Are there any other remarks that anyone wishes to make at this time with regard to the paper that has been read here? Mr. Kinney: I do not think that there is any leading industry of the United States that is as much neglected as the fishing industry — that is, so far as general support goes. It is a very large industry. I want to make some comparisons. Our county, at the mouth of the Columbia River, is a fishing county. Our industries are salmon and lumber. Now, we have been working to get appropriations for main- taining hatcheries. I should like to see a county appropriation main- taining a county hatchery at Astoria or elsewhere on the river within the county limits. I am not a politician, but I have taken that matter up several times, with the result that I found it was much easier to get an appropriation of $400,000 for county roads than it was to get $10,- 000 for fisheries, much easier, and yet the fishing industry is our main industry, the one upon which we place our main dependence. I have taken up with our senators and representatives during the last ten years the matter of larger appropriations for hatcheries. As many as ten years ago I took this question up, and I have seen every one of our senators and representatives from time to time. I am not a politician, but I have urged this upon them. Senator Bourne probably was the first one to get a bill for the Columbia River through the Senate, but it never got through the House, and was laid on the table. The third bill is now in the House. It seems to me that the appropriations for Federal hatcheries ought to be doubled ; they ought not to be increased a little, but they ought to be doubled. It is of vital importance to the prosperity of the United States that these fisheries should be taken care of. Meat is getting scarcer and higher, and as our population increases, we shall find a time when the fish will actually support the majority of the American people. On the Columbia River today we do not pack more than one-half what we did thirty-five years ago. We should take this into consideration and protect all other streams to the utmost. President : It seems to me that the best way to accomplish these things is to give all these matters the utmost publicity. I find that peo- ple refuse to give these appropriations for matters of this kind largely because they are ignorant of the importance of them, and when the peo- ple are educated up to the importance of our fisheries I think that they will be generous in their appropriations. I think that some scheme by which these matters can be brought before the people, and the people 28 Pacific Fisheries Society educated up to the importance of them, would be work to which this society could well devote a part of its time. We would like to hear from anyone here who has suggestions to make. We want the matter fully discussed. The more discussions we have, the more viewpomts, the more ideas we get. Probably Mr. Fraser could give us some idea how they manage those things in British Columbia, I understand they usually get good appro- priations there. Mr. Fraser : It seems to me that this discussion is a little bit out of my line. While I am very much interested in it I really have no say in the outcome. I do not know that we are very much better off in Canada in regard to appropriations than you are in the United States. It seems to be the same way with governments all over. There is not very much difference in the way things are arranged all the way through as far as that is concerned. The Canadian hatcheries, in British Columbia at least, are not more numerous or any better financed, so far as I am aware, than they are in Washington, Oregon or the other Pacific States. There are but ten federal hatcheries in the Province of British Colum- bia. These are principally for the hatching of salmon, although there is something done with the various trouts, viz., steelhead, cutthroat and rainbow. The work in general is so much similar to that done here that I cannot add anything that would be of special interest. A PROPOSED SCHOOL OF FISHERIES By Trevor Kincaid Professor of Zoology, University of Washington For some time the proposition of establishing- a school or department of fisheries in connection with the University of Washington has been before the authorities of the latter insti- tution. This is by no means a new idea, as the suggestion has been mooted for a number of years. The recent centralization of the fishing industry of the northwest in Seattle, together with the location of the Pacific Coast office of the United States Bureau of Fisheries in this city, has brought the project to the front in a manner that merits careful consideration. The University of Washington, located as it is on Puget Sound, in the midst of one of the greatest fishing districts of the world, occupies a strategic position which suggests the possibility of close co-operation through its scientific depart- ments with the various industrial activities resulting from the expansion of the fisheries. The advantages to be derived from the establishment of such a school are rather obvious and it seems to be merely a question as to whether the time is now ripe for the initiation of the project. We have observed on the Pacific Coast, and the same may be said of other sections of the country, an enormous expan- sion of the fishing industry. The harvest of the sea grows apace as new sources of aquatic wealth are opened up for the benefit of mankind. With this expansion comes an increased complexity in every phase of the industry. The older methods of fishing have given place to new ones of the most advanced type, while in the preparation of marine products for the mar- ket a revolution has been worked through the invention of labor-saving machinery and the perfection of sanitary pro- cesses. On the commercial side the markets of the world, both domestic and foreign, have been opened up to receive great supplies of cheap and nutritious sea food. The expansion and dififerentiation of the industry has gone forward along so many lines that the time has arrived when 30 Pacific Fisheries Society hig-hly trained men are called for to handle various phases of the work. On the biolog-ical side the fisheries have become more and more complex, because of the establishment of fishing- along such diverse lines and over such a wide field of operations that we have been brought face to face with an increasing variety of biological problems which demand solu- tion in order that the supply of sea life may be not only main- tained but vastly increased. On the technological side we note the extraordinary development of the canning industry. The evolution of labor-saving machinery has been marvelous. It is a far cry from the sun-dried fish of the Indian to the super- man of the "iron chink." And this has gbne hand in hand with the development of sanitary processes which make the earlier methods appear barbarous by comparison. The meth- ods of fishing have undergone a corresponding increase in complexity, from the time when the Indians gathered in their simple way the products of the sea to the present day with its fleet of vessels plowing the waters of the Pacific, from Cali- fornia to the Arctic seas. That the methods of taking and transporting fish will undergo still further changes goes with- out saying, and this is particularly true of the deep-sea fish- eries, whicii are as yet only in their infancy. In the commer- cial field we see the same thing. From the handling of the catch of the individual fisherman in the local market we have seen the industry expand so as to become a large factor in the commerce of the nation, and more recently we have noted the fisheries products of the Pacific Coast flowing into the mar- kets of the world and thus attain international importance. If we examine the industries based upon the utilization of our aquatic resources it becomes obvious that a veritable army is involved in carrying on the several phases of sea farm- ing-. The demand for trained and efficient men is already pressing and will increase with the expansion of the industries concerned. The manner in which this demand is being met presents an interesting subject for study. The men engaged in the fishing end of the work are largely recruited from for- eign fishing fields where they have served their apprentice- ship, or else are drawn from the ranks of other industries and trained on the ground. Those dealing with the preparation First Annual Meeting 31 of marine products for the market are for the most part men who have s^^rown up with the industry and have acquired their qualifications through direct contact with the work in can- neries, etc. The business men manning- the plants have been drafted from other industries. The scientists engaged in the study of marine resources are largely those employed by the United States Bureau of Fisheries, which has done noteworthy service in this connection, both through the labors of its im- mediate stafif and through the employment of men drawn from the universities of the Pacific Coast and elsewhere. The fish hatcheries are manned by pisciculturists who have served their apprenticeship in the national Bureau of Fisheries or in the stations established by the several states. It will be seen that the industry is manned in all its branches by men trained largely through the apprenticement method. This type of education has its great advantages, and any system of training that would deprive a man of the bene- fits that come from immediate contact with the processes of the industry would be a serious blunder, and any school we may establish must necessarily try to preserve those advantages that spring from this vitally important system and add to them those elements of fundamental training that are so essen- tial to complete preparation. In other words, our aim should be to found a school that would bear the relation to the fishing industry that is borne in their way by the schools of forestry and mining to the basic activities which they represent, and by the agricultural experiment station to industries based upon the products of the soil. Granting, then, the wisdom of founding a school of fish- eries upon the basis suggested, the question arises as to the details of organization. What would be the nature of the curriculum best suited to accomplish the object in view? A canvass of the situation discloses the fact that no fisheries school exists at the present time upon the American conti- nent and, moreover, the institutions of Europe do not present any example approaching the type we have in mind. So far as we are aware, the only fully equipped school of fisheries in existence is the Imperial Fisheries Institute of Japan. The importance of the fisheries of the Japanese Em- 32 Pacific Fisheries Society pire may be judged from the fact that at least one-sixth of her entire population is engaged in industries based either directly or indirectly upon marine resources, a condition fur- ther emphasized when it is known that the country does not possess the basis for an extensive production of animal life on land. When the Japanese government found itself confronted by the problem which presents itself to us today, it sent its agents abroad to study the methods of foreign countries in order that they might place the fisheries of the empire upon a modern basis, but we are informed they found no institution in existence which would serve as a model, and they were compelled to formulate an organization that was of an almost original type. The Imperial Fisheries Institute was founded by the Jap- anese government in 1897, and has proven of inestimable ser- vice to the Japanese people. The staff consists of a director and nine instructors. The plant is located in Tokyo and fronts directly on the sea. Several ships are at the command of the station and enable the institution to keep in touch with all branches of the fisheries. The instructional work of the institute is of a very practical character and may well serve as a model upon which the curriculum of our own school may be based. The general plan of the Japanese courses, as out- lined in their most recent catalogue, is therefore epitomized for purposes of comparison. Two fundamental divisions of the work of the institute are recognized — research and instruction. One branch of the school is thus devoted to educational work, preparing men to enter actively into the dififerent branches of the fishing indus- try. In this connection, three lines of preparation are repre- sented, viz., a fishing course, a technological course, and a piscicultural course. From the fishing courses men enter upon the work of taking fish. They have a knowledge of navigation and are thus able to secure positions as masters of vessels. They are also taught sufficient mechanics to enable them to operate machinery. From the technological course men enter canneries and plants engaged in the preparation of products to be used as food or to be utilized in other industries. They First Annual Meeting 33 are given a practical knowledge of chemistry and bacteriology. From the piscicultural course the graduates enter upon the work of caring for hatcheries and other plants designed to conserve and increase the supply of marine products. In all cases the period of instruction covers three years, one of which must be spent in actual work in some phase of the in- dustry under conditions over which the institute has more or less control. Candidates entering the school are called upon for certain fundamental educational preparation, corresponding to the completion of a high school course. Some idea of the cur- riculum may be had from a list of the subjects taught during the first two years. In the fishing course we find fishery methods, navigation, seamanship, shipbuilding, embryology, oceanography, ichthyology, applied mechanics, mathematics, economics, English, fish curing. In the technology course the items are preparation of marine products, bacteriology, ap- plied mechanics, applied chemistry, chemical analysis, zoology, ichthyology, botany, economics, law. For students in pisci- culture the following requirements are laid down : Fresh- water pisciculture, salt-water pisciculture, embryology, bac- teriology, oceanography, chemistry, zoology, ichthyology, bot- any, algology, economics, drawing. In addition to the above, short courses are offered to men already engaged in the industry who have not had the advan- tages of special training. A post-graduate course is also pro- vided for the benefit of those desiring more extended pre- paration along special lines. Again, a special course in deep- sea fishing is offered which trains men in the technique of this important line of work which is in a state of rapid expansion in Japan as with us. As to the scope of the institution, we get some idea from the number of students enrolled. Since 1897, when the work was initiated, over 600 students have been graduated, and in 1909, which is the most recent catalogue at hand, there were enrolled in the various courses 263 students. So much for the educational side of the institution. On the experimental or research side, which is co-ordinate, they have men working who are attempting to solve biological and tech- 34 Pacific Fisheries Society nological problems relative to the fishing industry. The results of their investigations are published as bulletins for the benefit of those concerned. At the time the last bulletin was pub- lished they had under way experimental work dealing with the spawning of fishes, fish migrations, rearing of oysters, hydro-biology, food preservation, chemistry of sea-products, and the use of dyes in preserving nets. In establishing a school such as has been suggested in the above outline, we will naturally encounter certain difficulties. One difficulty is, of course, that this school is something abso- lutely new so far as this country is concerned, and anything that is new will have to overcome more or less inertia in getting under way. Other difficulties will suggest themselves, such as the proper manning of the new department and the stretch- ing of the finances of the University of Washington to cover the expenditures involved. Some of these difficulties are not so serious as would at first appear. Many of the fundamental courses in biology, chemistry and technology called for in the fisheries curriculum are already given in the university, so it would be necessary to provide only that additional instruction which is of a distinctively professional character. The manner in which the new department, if it be organ- ized, will be co-ordinated with other progressive movements is quite sug'gestive. The United States Bureau of Fisheries has in mint! the establishment of a laboratory on the Pacific Coast similar to those already in operation on the Atlantic, which would be a most useful adjunct to the fisheries depart- ment. The state has established a permanent office in Seattle, which would be very helpful along some lines. All about us we have plants dealing with marine products which could be utilized as object lessons in giving instruction. With the proper backing and with the co-operation of the various national, state, corporate and private interests con- cerned, a school of fisheries would undoubtedly prove of the greatest benefit to all concerned, and the authorities of the University of Washington have planned to move in the matter as rapidly as the means at hand will permit. First Annual Meeting 35 DISCUSSION President: The very able and exhaustive paper that has just been presented by Professor Kincaid has opened up a number of subjects for discussion, and I think we might with great profit devote a Httle time to taking up some of the subjects if anybody here has anything to offer. I think particularly we might be very glad to hear from somebody con- nected with the practical side of fishing. Prof. Kincaid: I would like to hear from Dr. Smith on that; he has a wide field there, and I am sure all would be interested in hearing him. Dr. Smith : I think that we are under many obligations to Professor Kincaid for his exceedingly comprehensive remarks, which seem to cover the field adequately. I had the pleasure in 1903 of visiting this Japanese Fisheries Institute to which Professor Kincaid has referred, and I can tell you it was an eye-opener. I went out there to lecture on fisheries work as carried on in this country by the federal government, and it very soon became apparent to me that there was nothing whatever we could tell the Japanese. They had already gotten all that was worth while in this country and were making use of it. They have a truly wonderful institution there, which is turning out a large number of graduates who immediately enter the field of practical work, and help themselves and their government. In our own particular field we have a chronic need of trained men, especially in the fish-culture branch, who are willing to enter at compar- atively small pay, with the assurance that they will ultimately receive more adequate compensation if they qualify themselves. I think such a school as Professor Kincaid contemplates for Seattle would turn out graduates who, under an arrangement with the United States Civil Ser- vice Commission, could be put directly into the fish culture work of the federal and state governments without examination, upon presentation of a diploma from the University of Washington. This would certainly be all that the Bureau of Fisheries would require. There is a wide field; I do not know of any more promising field in the government service than in the culture of fish. The possibilities of making new discoveries, especially in the line of intensive breeding and selective breeding, are almost inexhaustible. I would expect that a tremendous boon to the fish industry of the entire country would be given by a fisheries school such as this if established here. President : Mr. Lowman, couldn't you contribute a few remarks on this subject from the standpoint of the man actually engaged in the commercial end of it? Mr. Lowman : Mr. President, it seems to me that if a man speaks of any vocation it invariably starts a discussion and brings out state- ments that seem in each case to be diametrically opposed to each other. The whole thing boiled down is, how many empty stomachs can you re- lieve, how often can you do it, and how long can you keep it up? That is the gist of the whole thing. It is a question of food for the people of the world, and the fisheries are going to be drawn on more and more. Therefore it brings up the matter of whether or not there is over-fish- ing. If so, you must remember that you must put up with this and a whole lot more over-fishing. That is the point you have got to take care of in the future, and it is the point, the real point of the whole matter. You are today fishing very, very limited to what you will have to fish in the future, or contrive a method of curtailing the growth of the popula- tion. But the question of over-fishing is, I think, a very simple propo- sition. On the Sound here there is a serious question as to whether or 36 PaciHc Fisheries Society not there has not been over-fishing even under present conditions and present methods. Over-fishing means that you have fished out all of your surplus and a portion of your breeding stock. If you have done that, what percentage of it did you do by nets and fishing boats as against the paper mills which discharge poisons continuously three hundred and sixty-five days out of the year and twenty-four hours a day; what proportion was done by nets as compared with the carload of cedar bark and fir sawdust which now covers the spawning fields? It is an actual fact that those streams which are the least developed in a commercial way are still the best producers of salmon. It is not so much of a real question as to fish returning to parent stream, or whether they move from stream to stream, as it is how many pounds of net food you can get out of a given quantity of fish and deliver to the consumer at a price he can afford to pay and eat it as a common everyday food, and while I agree most heartily, could not agree more fully, with Pro- fessor Kincaid, I think that the biology and other ologies should get down very largely to, as he said, the preparation of fish and the delivery of it to the consumer. Let the practical end of it at least keep pace with the scientific end ; let the two go hand in hand. Our hard headed, prac- tical experience, with your scientific investigations, will continue to pro- duce a supply of breeding stock and at the same time produce food for somebody else if he will put up the ten cents. Our experience is, or at least the idea comes into our minds, t-hat there has been slightly too much of the scientific and not enough of the practical. Maybe we are producing a great deal, but we shall have to produce more and more and not less. Mr. Schmitt: The establishment of a school of this sort (speak- ing of the school of fisheries) is a thing that is needed by you practical men and by the scientific men. Men of science need certain special training to take positions with the Bureau of Fisheries. One problem which frequently confronts the Bureau is that of securing properly qualified men. It has been the habit of the Bureau to train its own men, but that takes time and it is difficult to get others to take their places when they leave for other fields of endeavor. Regarding the relation of scientific studies to practical results ; un- less we have scientific researches in biology, physics and chemistry, we cannot get the relations of the fishes to each other and their environ- ment ; unless we know how much oxygen tlie fish needs, and how much there is in the water ; unless we know the toxidity of various chemical solutions and sawdust infusions we cannot pass upon the effects, on your decreasing river fisheries, of the poisons from the paper mills, saw mills, and other sources. These things are of undoubted importance, and unless we have scientific studies and the proper training therefor we cannot investigate these problems and give you the information you are looking for. It is for reasons such as these that we need so much a school of this kind in this country, where most of the fishing is done at the present time. Although the east coast has a great many fishing industries, I find the western products, especially halibut, arc superseding the eastern in the eastern markets, and for that reason, among others, I am heartily in favor of anything that will tend toward the establishment of a fisheries school on the northwest coast. President: We have had a discussion on the subject of the estab- lishment of a school of fisheries and we have heard from Professor Kin- caid on behalf of the scientists and the University, and from Mr. Low- man on behalf of the canners and the practical men. There are a num- First Annual Meeting 37 ber of hatchery men here, and I think some one of them should favor us with a few remarks concerning the establishment of such a school. One of the principal courses would be the propagation of fish, and some of the hatchery men ought to be able to favor us with a few remarks on that subject. I do not want anyone to feel at all backward about getting up and speaking, because this meeting is not so terribly formal. Mr. O'Malley: Mr. President, I talked this subject over with Pro- fessor Kincaid last fall when we were out on Puget Sound liberating lobsters. I have long felt the need of just such a school. I have had lots of practical experience in the field, but I would like to have some of the scientific training that would naturally come from a school of that char- acter. A lot of assistance for the practical work done by me has come from my association with Dr. Gilbert. He has spent a good many sum- mers on the Puget Sound and Columbia River, and I have been closely associated with him. In checking up my practical knowledge with his scientific knowledge, I feel that we have both helped the other, and I feel that a school of this character, with men coming out into the practical field with trained knowledge, would be of great help. There are many questions of fish culture now before the people of this coast that are of vital importance, and one that is being worked out by Mr. Rich, em- ployed by the Bureau of Fisheries and under the supervision of Dr. Gilbert, is the question as to the time that young salmon proceed to the ocean and what percentage of those that go early and those thai go late return in the larger numbers as matured fish. Dr. Gilbert has reached the point with his scale study on salmon whereby such facts can be determined. This will give the hatchery man the information which is most vital to the industry, viz., the proper time to liberate his fish with the view of the greatest possible number returning as adults. Mr. Bower : Mr. President, may I offer a suggestion ? We all agree as to the need of a fisheries school. Now, it occurs to me there is further need of definite, concrete action as to how we can accomplish the end. It seems to me that a plan ought to be formulated whereby the legislature may be approached properly to provide the necessary funds. It seems to me that it is a question of dollars and cents, and if the matter can be worked out to that end, I think the school will be realized. I trust the Society can do something towards that end. President : I think the point is very well taken. After all mere talking does not get you very far. It is the money that counts, and if we simply got together here and did nothing more than talk we would not have accomplished much. Some steps ought to be taken in order to keep this going after we adjourn, and for that purpose I think it might be well to pass a resolution endorsing the scheme of establishing a fisheries school, and then afterwards in some appropriate way appoint a committee or get the executive committee to push the idea along. We ought to give Professor Kincaid our active support in accomplishing the end which he is so desirous to attain. Now, if there are no further discussions at the present time, I think a motion will be in order to have somebody — our Secretary, or the Executive Committee — prepare a resolution endorsing the plan of establishing a fisheries school, and have it presented and acted upon at our subsequent meeting. Mr. Freeman : I make such a motion, and suggest that it be so worded that the request be made for the immediate establishment or the immediate announcement of the establishment of a school of fisheries here. Really the way to go at anything is to simply go at it. The need is evident, the field is wide open. Already we have shown that the con- ference between Dr. Smith and President Landes seems to be exceed- 38 Pacific Fisheries Society ingly desirable from a national standpoint, and such an institution would establish additional prestige and would attract students not only from this country but from foreign countries. I beg to offer then that the Secretary be authorized to prepare such a resolution for presentation tomorrow, not only sanctioning the establishment, but urging the an- nouncement of the immediate establishment of such an institution in the University of Washington. President : I would suggest that while all these onerous duties are being placed upon the Secretary, that Mr. Freeman and Professor Kin- caid and others interested in this — of course we are all interested, but Professor Kincaid has looked into it probably more than any of us — and I suggest that he assist the Secretary in drawing the resolution in order to get it on the books right. SOME NEGLECTED FISHERY RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC COAST By John N. Cobb Editor of the Pacific Fisherman The Pacific Coast has been so bountifully gifted with salm- on that it has from the very beginning- been difficult to de- velop a market for other varieties of sea food, but as the con- sumption of fishery products throughout the country at large increases, and methods of distribution improve, the people are indicating a desire for a greater variety from which to choose, and this will ultimately furnish an outlet for the many species which are now either neglected entirely or but sparingly used. As it has been impossible to treat of all in the compass of a paper of this class, I have selected the most prominent. The black cod (Anoplopoma fimbria) is very abundant in our northern waters, and large quantities are taken on halibut trawls when set in deep water. The black cod is a most de- licious food fish, of firm and flaky texture ; it is white in color and rich in flavor. While the market for this species is steadily widening, the supply which could be brought in far exceeds the demand. Owing to its oiliness, it is not easy to pickle-cure this fish. The best method has been found to be that of double pickling. After being in pickle once the fish are taken out and put in fresh pickle a second time from two to five days. The second pickle is then boiled and the fish are replaced in that fluid after it has cooled, and are then shipped to market. The eulachon, or candlefish, run in enormous schools in some of our Alaska streams from late in March till in May, but, although a most digestible and nutritious species, very few are eaten by the whites. These are almost invariably pickled. It is not good for canning, as the flesh drops from the bones after cooking, and when the can is opened the con- tents present a much jumbled and uninviting appearance. The fksh of the eulachon is said to be as restorative to the wasted human system as cod-liver oil. 40 Pacific Fisheries Society The oil, which is abundant in the tissues of the fish, has very superior quahties and might be made commercially im- portant if the proper methods were followed in its extraction and refining. Of the large schools of herring which frec[ucnt our coast, relatively but very few are prepared for market, and these usually in a slipshod manner. Were the fresh fish selected with care and an eye to having all the fish in a barrel of about the same size, the fish gibbed and then salted carefully, and after the fish have been cured sufficiently repacked in barrels which are filled so full that the fish cannot be jumbled up, the finished product would fetch prices more nearly consonant with the best foreign herring. I put up some on the Shumagin Islands in 1912 and 1913 which averaged almost one pound each in the round and ran about 225 to the cured barrel, and these brought alnu>st the same i)rice as the Norwegian herring in the California market. Several attempts have been made on Puget Sound to build up an industry in the canning as sardines of the young herring and a pilchard which frequents these waters, but all have failed through inability to compete with the cheap and abund- ant labor available for the Maine canneries. In Alaska are to be found enormous numbers of Dolly Varden trout, and lesser numbers of rainbow, cutthroat and Great Lakes trout. The Dolly \'arden trout are the deadliest enemies the salmon have in Alaskan waters, as they devour both the eggs and the young. Owing to their being classed in the states as game fish, it is almost impossible to find a market for them in a fresh or frozen condition. At present the State of Washington, thanks to the broad-mindedness of Commissioner Darwin, permits of their sale in the local mar- kets. A few hundred cases are canned annually in Alaska, and these are prepared in the same manner as salmon. If medium sized fish were selected and packed whole in one and two-pound oval cans, they would present a more inviting ap- pearance, and I believe a big trade in them could be built up throughout the country, as a trout label would be a novelty in the East, and also one to conjure with, as the name stands for a choice article in the minds of the people. First Annual Meeting 41 It is a question of only a few years when the shad fisheries of the Pacific Coast will be of first-rate importance. At the present time it is so over-shadowed by its giant brother, the salmon fishery, that it is almost lost sight of. The fish are taken mainly on the Columbia and Sacramento rivers. Most of them are marketed in a fresh or frozen condition, while some thousands of cases of both fish and roe arc canned each season. The demand for shad is slowly but steadily increasing. Whitefish (Coregonus) are found in many of the inland lakes and streams of the Northwest and in Alaska. Some commercial use is being made of them in Washington, where they are seined in the lakes and shipped to Chicago and to nearby western states. In Alaska practically no use has yet been made of them except as food by the natives who catch them. They are a delicious fish and will compare very favor- ably in edible qualities with the Great Lakes whitefish. Atka mackerel {Pleurogrammus mono pt cry gins) is found in large schools mainly along the Aleutian chain. The codfish vessels find schools frequently when fishing around the Shum- agin Islands. The fish is rather hard to cure properly, but when the work has been well done it is delicious in flavor. In the early days of the Nome rush, when the steamers made regular stops at Dutch Harbor for coal, a small business was maintained by the natives of Unalaska in selling pickled Atka mackerel to them, but when the vessels ceased making it a port of call the business died out. If the name were changed and a strong efifort made to exploit this species, I believe a good business could be built up. It would be necessary to change the common name because the fish is not a mackerel at all and bears no resemblance to one, it having acquired the name because of a fancied resemblance in flavor to the other species. Either of its other common names — "striped fish" or "yellow fish" — would be appropriate. The cultus cod (Opiodon elongatus), several species of sea bass, known locally as red rock cod (Sebastodes ruherri- mus), Sitka black bass (Sebastodes melanops), etc., various species of flounders, including the deep-sea sole, are excellent food fishes and are to be found in abundance along our north- ern coast and in Alaska. Most of them now find a limited 42 Pacifu- I'islh'iii's Society market in the coast towns, but cvontually tlicy will bo shipped to all sections of the West, as their food ciualities become better known. The mi^st remarkable instance of wholesale waste of fishery products is to be seen in connection with the great salmon in- dustry of this ct>ast. In 1^)13 some 140 millions of salmon were used in a fresh condition, and in canning, pickling, niild- cm-ing. freezing, smoking, etc. Estimating the loss in dress- ing these salmon at 25 per cent, a most conservative estimate, gives us the enormous total of 101,lS(i tinis of otTal. With the exception of about 7,000 tons, which were used at a few small plants, all of this enormous tiHal was thrown back into the water, thus noi only wasting valuable material but polluting the water from which the fish originally came. For various reasons, uo{ all of this material coidtl be savetl, but the amount that couUl be worked up into merchantable proilucts would sur- prise most of my hearers. Included in this enormous amount o{ ofTal are millions of pt^uuils c^f salmon eggs. Although Siberia prepared 250 tons of salmon eggs as caviar in U>13, only about 24,000 poiuids were prepared upon the Tacific Coast of America during the same period. It is a comparatively easy matter to prepare caviar, an^l with a little experience almost any fairly intelli- gent persiMi can i.\o it, and it is to be hoped that some of our fishermen will turn their earnest attention to this matter. The balance of the offal would make excellent fertilizer and oil. A few unthinking persons have blamed the cannerymen for not having done this years ago, but they must be acquitted of most of the blame. For once American inventive genius has laggetl behind. In the luist, where the preparation of fish scrap and oil from non-edible species is an old and important industry, large plants have been established for the rendering of the tish. On this coast, where non-edible species are rare, fish otTal has been the usual source of supply, and as the pack- ing establisments are generally scattered widely, large plants could not be utilized owing to the heavy expense of bringing the otTal such liMig distances. As a result a small plant, ca- llable of handling the refuse of a plant packing from 50,000 to 100,000 cases, was needed, and this has not been available at a first Annual Meeting 43 reasonal)le cost until within the last two years, but as most of the ventures in this line in the past have been failures, the can- nerymen are cliary of investin^^ until they see such a plant work- ing successfully ui)on this material alone. Mussels. — Dr. Smith has told us in a recent circular issued by the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries that we ought to eat the sea mussel. I am happy to inform him that in a limited way this bivalve has for some years been marketed at vari(ms ])laces on this coast, but there is room for an immense increase in its con- sumption. Large beds arc frequent along this coast from San Francisco north, especially in Alaska. H. E. Westbrook has recently started to can them at his plant on Smith River, in northern California, and if the j)roduct takes well with the con- suming public others will undoubtedly take it up. Canning mussels would be a good business for the salmon canneries to take up when the salmon are not running. Mussels are also valuable for the productif)n of fertilizer, the so-called "mussel mud" constituting one of the best fer- tilizers known. It is found in places where the mussel beds are exposed to constantly depositing silt, which slowly destroys the mollusks and buries them beneath their ofifsi)ring. Clams. — Clams are abundant throughout Alaska ; I have personally found them in nearly every section outside of the Arctic and it is credibly reported that there are large beds along the Arctic coast. The razor clam (Machaera patula), is especi- ally abundant in southeast and central Alaska. The mufl clam (probably Panopca s^enerosa) is to be found in the same re- gions. Almost no use is made of them at i)resent, but some day they will ])rove a source of wealth to the Territory. The work of canning could easily be carried on at plants erected adjacent to the grounds. Cockles. — Beds of cockles, sometimes called scallops in Alaska, are known to exist in Funter P.ay, on Admirality Is- land, and in Dry Strait, near Wrangell, in southeast Alaska, and would probably be found in many other places if systematic search were made. They are eaten, but not sold. Crabs. — Crabs are exceedingly abundant in Alaska, and for many years the residents have been catching and eating them. In 1909 the business of catching and shipj)ing them to Pugct 44 Pacific Fisheries Society Sound was first undertaken. In the beginning- all were shipped alive, packed in seaweed, but so mau)^ died on the way or ar- rived in bad condition that tinally all were boiled before being shipped. They were shipped during- the smumer months when a close season on Washington crabs prevailed. Owing- to cer- tain peculiar conditions prevailing on the Sound in 1913, none were shipped from Alaska. Owing- to the cheapness and abumlance of the canned crabs imported from Japan, the business of canning theiu has lan- guished on this coast, but as the crabs are said to be decreasing in Japanese waters it may be that eventually our packers will be able to do some business in this line. Shrimps and Praivns. — These crustaceans are in quite gen- eral use in the coast states, but their pursuit has been neglected in Alaska. Shrimp are found in a number of places in Southeast Alas- ka, being fairly abundant at times in the vicinity of Wrangell, while the investigations of the Albatross have shown that they are abundant in the waters of central Alaska, south of the Alaska Peninsula. Last summer, during the month of July, I found large numbers in the stomachs of codfish delivered by the fishermen at Pirate Cove, on Popof Island, in the Shuma- gin Islands. They have been reported from a few places in western Alaska. As the discovery of the presence of shrimp in Alaska has been what we might term accidental, it is prob- able that other, and even more prolific, grounds would be found if sought for specifically. Prawns have been found in southeast Alaska, in the vicinity of \\'rangcll. Some prospecting was done in 1909 and a few of these crustaceans, known to the fishermen of Puget Sound as "big-spots" (which average 5 inches in length), "coon- stripes," (2 inches in length), and "pinks" (1 to 11-2 inches in length) were gathered. As this was the first and only eflfort, so far as my knowledge extends, ever made to find these crus- taceans in Alaskan waters, it is my belief that more extended search would disclose them in abundance in other sections of the Territory. IJltale Meat. — In Japan whale meat is of considerable eco- noiuic importance as a food product, the tail and adjacent parts First Annual Meeting 45 and the soft piece under the eye being the choicest portions. It has much the flavor and appearance of beef. There are several whaHng stations in operation on this coast, nearly all of which ship the portions mentioned to Japan. Could the prejudice against the whale meat be overcome it would prove a most im- portant addition to our national larder. Hair Seals. — Many thousands of hair seals frequent this coast, especially in Alaska, and if properly hunted I believe the industry could be made a profitable one, as the hides make ex- cellent leather. A considerable reduction in the numbers of these animals would greatly benefit the salmon industry, as they annually destroy millions of these valuable fish. Sea Urehin. — The sea urchin, which is quite abundant on our coast, will some day be an article of economic importance. A few are gathered and the meat eaten by Japanese in Califor- nia and by natives in Alaska. Sea Cucumber. — The Holothurian, known commonly as the sea cucumber, is a very abundant animal on this coast, but no use is made of it as yet. In the South Seas immense quantities are prepared for market by boiling and smoking, the resulting product being known as beche-de-mer. It is highly prized by orientals, who prepare a most delicious gelatinous soup from it. Algae. — Despite the fact that the seaweed resources of this coast are not surpassed by those of any other, they are practi- cally ignored. A number of the native tribes gather, prepare and eat considerable quantities of seaweed, while small quanti- ties are prepared by the oriental fishermen operating along the west coast for food, medicine and fertilizer. Dulse (Rhodymenia palmata) is quite common on our Northwest coast, and is an article of diet amongst the Wash- ington and Alaska natives. The natives of Alaska usually gather dulse in the summer, dry it in the sun, press it in boxes, and then put it away for winter use. Other species of this genus grow on the west coast, while several other algae known as dulse in Europe anrl used in the same way as Rhodymenia, are represented by various species on our west coast. Dulse is frequently eaten as a relish in New England by the whites, and is also in quite general use in Ireland. Vegetable isinglass could be prepared from Gelidium cor- 46 Pacific Fisheries Society neum, an alga which grows in abundance on our coast ; this species is identical with the one from which the Japanese pre- pare their vegetable isinglass. Other species {G. conltcri and G. cartilaginenmn) exist on the coast of California. One form of agar-agar, now so extensively used in making culture media in bacteriological work, could also be prepared from Gelidium. Laver {PorpJiyra laciiiiata) is found in abundance along our entire coast, but is not collected, except sparingly, by Chin- ese, although large quantities are imported by orientals living in this country. Laver grows abundantly in bays and near river mouths. In Japan this alga is cultivated and most of the crop is sun-dried. The green laver, or sea lettuce {Ulva latissima), which is abundant on all our coasts, is eaten in Scotland, and is also eaten with meat or as greens by native tribes of our North- west coast. The giant kelp {Nercocystis lutkeana) is found in great profusion on the Pacific Coast from Southern California north- ward. The natives of this coast have made considerable use of this alga, while curios are made from the various portions of the plant and sold to tourists visiting California. In 1906 two professors of the University of Washington invented a process for making a product resembling citron from the giant kelp. When made from the bulb it was a difficult matter to detect the difference between it and the real citron. The flavor was, of course, artificial. Numerous species of Laminaria exist on the northern part of this coast, and the only use to which the plants are now put is for fertilizer. Many of these could be prepared in various ways as food and would doubtless meet with an encouraging reception if properly introduced. Many species of algc'e identical with or similar to those used in Scotland. France and Japan in the manufacture of iodine abound on our Northwest coast, but are never used for this pur- pose, despite the fact that this country is a large consumer of iodine, and its preparation in crude form is a comparatively simple matter. Nearly all marine algae contain iodine, but a few have such a comparatively large quantity that they are used almost exclu- First Annual Meeting 47 sively. The Atlantic kelp yields the highest percentage of iodine, while the Pacific kelp yields a much higher percentage of potash, five or six times as much as the Atlantic kelp. During the extraction of iodine, algin, cellulose, dextrin, mannite, potash, chloride of potassium, and carbonate of soda are also produced. As this country imports annually about $13,000,000 worth of potash, all of which could be produced from seaweed, we are criminally wasting our resources. As a direct fertilizer fresh seaweeds have been in use for many years by farmers living on or near the Atlantic coast, but very little use has been made of it in this manner on this coast. Owing to its large content of water the total quantity of fer- tilizing ingredients in plants is very small in proportion to the weight of the material. x\s the plants decompose rapidly, and the water separates from them quickly, during which operations the fertilizing constituents, especially the nitrogen, wastes away in the process, it is important that the plants be used within as short a time as practicable after they have been collected. Seaweeds have a mechanical action on the soil, tending to make it friable and binding its constituents together. They also have an advantage over barnyard manure in the freedom from seeds of land weeds. DISCUSSION President : Mr. Cobb's paper certainly opens a great field for dis- cussion, and I will be glad to hear from any of the members who have anything to say on the matter. Dr. Smith : Mr. Cobb has certainly sounded a keynote in pomting out the wonderful unutilized resources on this coast and the way in which the general fishing industry of the Pacific Coast may be extended. He has mentioned numerous products about which I would like to say something, but time forbids, and I will only call your attention to the herring resources of Alaska. I have been satisfied for many years, after investigations in western Europe, that the herring in Alaska can become one of the great commercial products. Up to this time we have prac- tically dipped only a few barrels out of the sea annually, and they have been largely used for the making of oil and fertilizer, and more recently for bait in the halibut fisheries ; but the vast untouched shoals of her- ring in the Alaska waters are awaiting some enterprising men to go in there and utilize them. They can be suitably prepared and will cer- tainly meet with as ready a market as the Norwegian and Scotch her- ring which, as we know, contribute so much to the wealth of those countries. The Scotch herring industry, carried on for the most part on the North Sea and the islands off the northern coast of Scotland, 48 Pacific Fisheries Society sometimes amounts to 800,000,000 pounds annually, and practically the entire catch is salted and shipped to countries that are less favorably situated, central Europe, Russia, Germany, etc. There is no reason in the world why herring prepared after the Scotch method in Alaska should not be sent to Europe and other countries that demand that kind of fish. One year in which I was in Scotland looking into the herring fisheries, there were 2,800,000 barrels of salted herring pre- pared and sold at what was considered a very handsome profit. Prof. Kincaid : Mr. President, in this connection I would like to mention some observations made at our marine station located at Friday Harbor, bearing upon the edibility of certain marine animals. Several years ago we had in our party a young man of a particularly daring gastronomic disposition and we appointed him our ofiicial taster. He was apparently not afraid of anything along this line, and so we turned over to him a considerable series of animals taken from the waters of the archipelago and when he reported favorably other members of the party tested these culinary curiosities. The most strik- ing discovery we made was that the giant barnacles (Balanus cver- manni), occurring in such profusion in the northern section of Puget Sound, are really very delicious indeed. When cooked and eaten in the fresh state they were just as palatable as any shrimp or crab could be ; and since they can be gathered in great quantities and will survive shipment in the living state for long distances, there is no reason why the future should not develop a barnacle fishery in the Northwest. Individual animals of this species are frequently found attaining a height of six inches and a diameter of five inches, indicating that these are truly the giants of this branch of the crustacean series. Mr. Cobb : I would state, to give you an idea of what difference the preparation of a product in a proper manner will make in the value of the same, my experience with the herring we put up on the Shum- agin Islands. For the ordinary trade they were too large — as herring are generally sold by the piece a medium sized fish goes better than a very large one — but we prepared them in the best manner we could, grading them by size very carefully. The larger ones averaged about 225 to the barrel. Previous to this, Alaska herring had been sellmg for about $7.00, the highest price we could get, and the merchants in San Francisco objected strenuously to paying even that. When we brought these from Alaska and exposed them for sale, the lowest price we received for them was $11.00 — they all went at $11.00 or better, and the merchants have been very anxious to get more of them since. Mr. Fraser : In connection with the herring question, I might men- tion the fact that this year at Nanaimo there has been an experiment carried out in connection with putting up pickled herring. One firm brought out a Scotchman and about eight Scotch lassies to put up her- ring during the season. There was no trouble in disposing of the fish, as they were considered to be every bit as good as the Scotch herring. In general they are not so large as the Scotch herring, as the average weight is only about a quarter of a pound, and I have not seen any Pacific herring weighing as much as a pound. The British Columbia herring industry is centered around Nanaimo. At the highest price received in the season 1912-13, viz., $29 a ton, the herring fishing is quite profitable, but during last season the price dropped to about $5, a price likely to make the balance on the wrong side of the ledger. Mr. Cobb : I would state that the size herring I referred to are found onlv in two sections of Alaska — Cook Inlet and the Shumagin First Annual Meeting^ 49 Islands. Southeast Alaska herring will run about the same as Nanaimo ; they would probably average four or five hundred to the barrel. Mr. Fraser: How long are those herring? Mr. Cobb: About fifteen to eighteen inches long. Mr. Fraser : I notice Jordan and Everman put the length at eighteen inches, and I was wondering where they got it. President: Arc there any further remarks on this paper of Mr. Cobb's? I am sure that papers of that kind would undoubtedly be of great interest to the fishing community at large, and we hope through the medium of our report to give it the widest circulation possible. ANGLING AND NETTING; THE CONSERVATION OF THE MARINE FISHES OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA By Charles F. Holder, of Throop College of Technology (Read by Mr. H. L. Osterud.) At the present day one may contemplate the Rise and Fall of the Dutch Republic with serenity, but the rise and fall of the sport of sea angling and the fishing industry of Southern Cali- fornia has ben accompanied with not only wailing and gnashing of teeth, but even more hostile exuberance. It is a somewhat singailar fact that Southern California has been more or less neglected by the government. The people are virile, intelligent, and in the main from the East, but the Middle West, not interested in sea products, predominates to a large extent among citizens, which possibly explains the fact that there has been no fierce and continued demand for aid. Los Angeles is a most vigorous city with 450,000 inhabitants, but it has no garrison — is entirely unprotected. Its coast has one lighthouse. Its islands have no lights. It had until last year no laws protecting its sea fishes to amount to anything; in fact, has been left to itself. It so happened I was born on the New England coast and became familiar with the marine fishes, as my father, with Louis Agassiz, dredged Massachusetts Bay, and in 1859-60 I accompanied him to Tortugas on the Florida reef, where I resided five years, observing the fishes. In 1885 I was forced to come to Southern California for my health, and have constantly observed the sea fishes here, and the keen struggle between the alien fishermen and the few who believed in fish conservation. I am, you will observe, presenting my own views and am not quoting any authorities. I saw the gradual reduction of marine fishes on the Atlantic Coast. In 1869 I followed the shad in their migration north. In the St. John's I used them as shark bait, they were so common. I remember shad in the Connecticut, Hudson and other rivers, but today the Eastern net catch of shad in the Potomac for the entire season of 52 Pacific Fisheries Socict\ 1913-14 was not equal to the catch of tzvo days ten or twelve years ago. They have been netted to possible extinction by unscrupulous netters who have looted the United States of a great industry. The sturgeon, each individual of which is val- ued at $125, is almost gone. I have seen Florida looted of its birds. I have known 10,000 robins to be killed in one day in a certain state. In a word, the alien is with us. He comes from a land of no game laws, and he brings his habits of destruction with him. In 1910 I was in Italy. Every living creature has a price. A seine was hauled in front of my hotel on the Riviera every hour. The crop of echini and sea anemones was failing ; even they were eaten, and a fish was a jewel. In 1886 I visited Santa Catalina Island, twenty miles from Los Angeles, an island of 55,000 acres, 22 miles long, with a lee, a perfect fish refuge and spawning ground to be seen without a special gift. Every rock was piled with abalone or haliotis, a valued shell for the pearl and for the meat. The spiny lobster or crayfish was just as abundant. The waters were alive with fishes of great economic value. There were many kinds. Two swordfishes {Xiphias and Tetraptnnis), the great jewfish (Stcrcolcpis), the yellowtail (Seriola), the tuna {Thynnns), the albacore, bonito of two varieties, barracuda, whitefish, sheepshead, rock bass of many species, groupers or rockfish of large size, white sea bass, surf-fish, roncador, and dozens more, not to speak of sardines, anchovies, mackerel, and a group of the rarest fish in the world, Luvanis, Rcgalccits, Opha, etc. In a word, gentlemen, this was a fish paradise. You could catch thirty-pound yellowtails from the beach, and the men looked into their boats in the morning for flying fish which the white sea bass chased out of the water at night. The climate in winter was like an Eastern October ; in summer like a New England September ; clear, stormless and delightful, up to all the praises that have been awarded it by temperamental enthusi- asts. I saw the change, the coming of the alien — the Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Greek, the Portuguese — and the lax care of the authorities. The crayfish gradually became rare. The Chinese looted the shores of abalone. They sent the meat to China and the shells to Germany by the ton. Gangs worked in platoons ; one five feet from shore, another at seven, another at First Annual Meeting 53 nine or ten, another at ten or twenty. And so they moved down Santa Catahna and San Clemente, an island equally large, and took every shell, little and big", and all animal life. I protested in the press and made myself unpopular to no avail. The Greeks killed the g-ulls to bait their lobster traps. We stopped this, and only last month I secured protection to sea lions. The gasoline boat now arrived and the demand for fish jumped. Twenty-nine years ago I came to the conclusion that the islands were spawning grounds and the source of supply to all Los Angeles county and far beyond. All the fish spawn here ; the yellowtail, white sea bass, sheepshead, whitefish. black sea bass, in the: kelp ; others alongshore in open water. The sar- dines spawned in the bays, particularly Avalon bay. From April to October was the main spawning time, especially August and September. From 1885 to 1895 vast schools of tuna (tunny) came regu- larly June 15th and remained until August or September. The gasoline boats now enabled the Greeks and Italians to get off- shore and back quickly. They began to net the islands with seines. One hundred and fifty seines, fast to the kelp and run- ning offshore long distances, have been counted in a mile and a half. The entire coast was netted at night with seines and gill- nets of all kinds, and during the day dozens of big boats fol- lowed the fish with purse-nets and took them by the ton. The tuna was not caught ; it was driven away. It came inshore day and night, to feed and spawn, ran into the maze of nets, was frightened off, and ten years ago left almost entirely. This was one of the most valuable fishes to Southern Cali- fornia. It attracted anglers from all over the world. It is esti- mated that the tuna alone brought half a million dollars to Cali- fornia per annum fifteen years ago, money that was spent all over California and in Washington and Oregon, as the anglers came west on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and Sunset line, and after the tuna left, went north and east over the north- ern routes. At last the fish disappeared altogether. Today tuna fishing in the Mediterranean is one of the assets of Italy, and it would be almost equally valuable here today. But nothing could with- 54 Pacific Fisheries Society stand the looting-, the fences, hurdles and repetition of nets. The raids of the netters was appalling. Sardine canneries were now started. I organized the Tuna Club about this time to conserve the tuna and other fishes. Distinguished anglers joined it, gave their moral support, and we did what we could to induce the market men to believe that fishes could be exhausted. We demonstrated that Avalon bay was a spawning ground and endeavored to stop the netting. We asked for one half mile, and allowed them sixty miles of the coast line. But they refused, and then we began to fight. I fought them before the supervisors and stopped them in a compromise for three years ; then they began again and this wonderful place was only saved from entire looting by getting a law to prevent netting within a mile of a sewer. This little bay was a source of supply for a vast area. The sardines born here returned, schooled, swam out into the chan- nel as food for large market fishes ; there could be no mistake of this. There was a direct relation between the abundance of sardines and an abundant supply of big fish. But the can- neries would take from ten to twenty tons of sardines and smelt at a haul with purse-nets. They would have taken every last fish and reviled Nature for not supplying more. For years we fought, and endeavored to educate the men ; a waste of sentiment, and I soon learned that the thing- to do was to fight, first, last and all the time. It took me literally twenty years to get a bill passed at Sacramento in the California Legislature to recognize the fact that Santa Catalina is a spawning ground. I took Dr. Jordan, Dr. Henry van Dyke, Dr. Griimell of Berkeley, and dozens of men to vari- ous points — men who knew. Here is the report to me of Dr. David Starr Jordan, the world's greatest ichthological expert: December 5. 1912. Dr. Chas. F. Holder, Throop College of Technology, Pasadena, California. Dear Sir — I trust that you may be successful in having Santa Cata- lina and San Clemente Islands set aside as fish preserves. These two islands and the smooth waters off their shores are the spawning grounds, above all others, of the greatest game fish in the country. The white sea bass, the great jewfish, the spearfish, swordfisli, tuna, bonito, albacore, the Japanese tuna (yellow-fin tuna), all spawn on the First Annual Meeting 55 rocky and other places about these islands, as well as a multitude of smaller fishes vahial)le to the angler or to the markets. Many of these fish spawn in the kelp which surrounds these islands. The netting carried on inshore disturbs these fishes at spawning time, and it is said that there has been a very marked falling off ot these species. As Avalon, on Santa Catalina, is the great center of big game fishing, the disappearance of any of these species makes a great loss to the people who have investments there as well as to the visitors who come there for fishing purposes. It is desired to prohibit the use of seines and all nets for market purposes within three miles of the shores of cither of these islands. This allows the professional fisherman the entire Santa Barljara chan- nel, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and the rest comprising the Santa Bar- bara group. , I trust that you and our friends will be successful in getting the statutes passed which shall protect these islands and set them apart as spawning grounds for the great game fishes of Southern California. Very truly yours, (Signed) DAVID STARR JORDAN. Every man who saw the situation agreed with me, and when our bill was at last drawn I had letters from many men advocating it. Our bill recognized the coast of Santa Catalina as a spawning ground, a source of supply of market fishes of Southern California, or a large portion of her coast, and it called for absolute cessation of netting of all sorts within three miles of shore. Line fishing was permitted anywhere, and the men had the entire Santa Catalina channel, thousands of square miles ; all San Clcmcnte Island, as large as Santa Catalina ; the Coronado Islands, the Santa Barbara Islands, and three or four hundred miles of mainland shore. But they fought for Santa Catalina ; they wanted everything, and raised a petition, signed by 3,000 men, in protest. By this time the normal catch of 1912 was 75 per cent less than that of 1885. It had steadily decreased. The tuna had entirely disappeared. The albacore, canned as "Blue Sea Tuna," now followed by one hundred or more Japanese boats, dropped far below normal, and this was true of all the distinc- tively pelagic fishes. The law making Santa Catalina a fish reservation passed and was signed by Governor Johnson in August, 1913. They tried to evade it, and soon several convictions were made. To- day, ten months later, a wonderful change has taken place. There have not been so many fish about for fifteen years. They are lying in the kelp beds, yellowtail, white sea bass, and others, 56 Pacific Fisheries Society undisturbed, and for a single year the change is marvelous. What would it be in five years of absolute rest? The almost ruined Avalonians, who had an investment of nearly $300,000 in boats and equipment of all kinds, dependent on the fishing, took on fresh hope; the tuna was expected back and hopes of cheaper fish revived among the consumers of Southern Cali- fornia. Rut it was too much, possibly, to expect, when avarice and ignorance were on one side, and mere intelligence and conserva- tion on the other. The canneries wanted sardines. The net men wanted to haul and set nets at night or any time. It was too good to give up, so the market men determined to fight for the island's protected shores. Some sort of an organization was necessary, so the poultry, game and fish dealers of San Fran- cisco started the "People's Fish and Game Protective Associa- tion of California." The first officers and founders were as follows : President, Barclay Henley, attorney for John F. Corriea ; vice-presi- dent, John F. Corriea, game and poultry dealer ; secretary, F. INI. Bailey, secretary of Corriea Corporation. Executive Conniiittcc: Cecil Raymond, game and poultry dealer; L. A. Sischo, market hunter; W. H. ^laack, wholesale tish dealer; Chas. A. Cook, and John B. Campedonico, game and commission merchant. They sent their secretary, Mr. Bailey, down to Southern California to secure signers to an initiative petition, and this is going on at present (June, 1914). If they obtain about 30,000 names the question as to whether the three-mile spawn- ing bed law shall be annulled will be voted on.* The very suggestion of such a move is the piscatorial crime of the century and is being fought with a vigor that does not argue well for peace. The opponents to the so-called "Pro- tective Association" in San Francisco have raised a large sum, and Prof. Taylor, of the University of California, is going over the state in a campaign of education, paying par- ticular attention to the bird and game side of the question. I have done what I could to explain to clubs and the public the sea-fish side, and I have taken particular pains to urge a friendly feeling between dealers and the public. *Mr. Bailey withdrew Santa Catalina Island from the initiative peti- tion in 1914, after hearing my statement, and thanked me for preventing him from innocently injuring the state fisheries. — C. F. H., 1915 First Annual Meeting 57 But the fact remains that a man in the fish business, in the poultry business, and wild g-ame business, or a market hunter, as was one of the original officers of this "Protective Society," is not of the exact mental fiber that cares to know anything about conservation. The taking of market fishes here is entire- ly in the hands of ignorant aliens — Japanese, Chinese, Portu- guese and Italians — who come from lands where nothing is known about conservation or wild life protection. They scorn the idea of leaving- anything for the man of to-morrow, and even think a man is a fool to consider it. Conservation is not for them. Congressman Linthicum, of Maryland, tells me that if the shad men on the Chesapeake had allowed but ten per cent of the shad to go up the Potomac it would have insured the supply for another year. Would they do it? No, they preferred to take them all and ruin the greatest and most valuable fishing- in America. So on the Pacific. Argument is worthless. Nearly all the fishermen are aliens. They are sent out to get fish at whatever cost, and the American conservationists believe the officers of many of the market fish companies to be actuated by a similar desire. There is one saving clause to the situation. We have educated the masses of the people, and the tax payer is aware that our fisheries are being preyed upon, exterminated by men who in some cases do not have sufficient intelligence to even protect their own interests. It is the story of the goose that laid the golden egg, and in California they are in the grossest ignorance killing the goose ; but such gross ignorance reacts on the consumer. It will increase the cost of living, and the tax payer is awakening to the fact that the American fisheries are being ruined. It is necessary to give some oversight to the sea-food sup- ply, just as it is necessary to protect the forests. Half a dozen societies, particularly the California Audubon Society, is fight- ing the good fight for wild life with publicity. Dr. David Starr Jordan is its president and I am one of the vice-presi- dents. We are doing what we can to make the sea fisheries last for all time, and to aid the ignorant dealers to save them- selves. 58 Pacific Fisheries Society The conservation of the sea fisheries of Southern Cali- fornia is one of her most important problems. The present year I organized "The Wild Life Protective League of South- ern California" to carry on this propaganda of education. It appears to be a fixed idea in the minds of many that the sea cannot be exhausted. If it were not for game laws and the hundreds who are fighting for wild life, hundreds of species would be wiped ofif the earth with remarkable celerity. When a man gets the idea into his head that gulls, the most valuable scavengers in the world, are only good for baiting lobster pots, or that insect eating birds are only for the pot, or that the beautiful meadow lark ought to be exterminated, such minds and men need the strict surveillance of the American people. Personally, I take great pride in the development of the economic products of the sea and land. I desire to aid in the development of the sea fishes for the benefit of the seiner, of the fishermen, the canner and the market dealer, but as an American, as a modern American, I deem it my duty to state and nation to remember that I am but the custodian of the products of Nature's gifts ; I am responsible for them. If the world was going away with us, it would be well and good to kill all the animals, cut down the trees, but our tenure of life is but a drop in the bucket. Man is increasing, and it is the duty of every man of intelligence to remember his children and his children's children, and leave something for them. The man or men who do not appreciate this are a menace to civilization and must be watched and forced to comport them- selves in such manner that our great economic questions may be solved to give the future all it needs and at a not increasing price. This, Mr. President, I deem a solemn duty and obliga- tion to every educated, intelligent American. DISCUSSION President: In connection with the paper which has just been read, I wish to state that we are having a rather severe fight in CaHfornia at the present time, as indicated by the remarks in Mr. Holder's paper. He alludes to the fishermen ; the fishermen there are both good and bad. The aliens he refers to are extremely bad. We have, on the other hand, a number of fishermen there of the more enlightened type who are in hearty sympathy with the movement Mr. Holder is fostering. We find that the heads of big fish companies there are aiding us in every way possible to keep down the depredations of the aliens. In First Annual Meeting 59 connection with the preserve he speaks of at Catalina Islands, it might be of interest to you to know that we have established a number of preserves along the coast of California. We have one at Catalina now, extending three miles out ; we have another spawning ground and fish preserve in Cache Slough in the delta of the Sacramento ; we have another one in Monterey Bay, and there are others that I can not recall just at the present moment. We are undergoing a crisis in California now and we are making every effort possible to defeat the objects and purposes of the associa- tion which is masquerading in California under the name of the People's Fish and Game Protective Association. It is not composed of the "peo- ple" ; it is composed of a lot of foreigners who come out to California and wish to strip the waters of all their fish, and have no respect at all for any restrictive measures. Their object seems to be to take every- thing they can and make as much money as they can, without any regard for the future whatever. Dr. Smith : Mr. President, Dr. Holder in his paper referred to the condition of the shad fisheries on the Atlantic Coast. That is a subject to which we have been giving a good deal of attention in Washington, and which concerns us very deeply. The shad fisheries of the Chesa- peake Bay — and that is by far the most important fishing ground in North America, and the shad is the most important fishing constituent of its fisheries — is in a most precarious condition. This has been brought about just as similar conditions have been brought about in other waters of the Atlantic Coast with regard to other species, not by unscrupulous foreigners or aliens. The fishermen have been operating within their rights, and far from being aliens, they are either Mayflower descend- ants, or claim to be such. Whatever may be the circumstances on this coast, we must ascribe untoward conditions on the Atlantic coast to the native citizen. The shad fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay and tribu- taries, which have yielded many millions of dollars annually in former times, have now reached such a stage that the fishery has ceased to be profitable, and I doubt if a single fisherman of the Chesapeake Bay and and tributaries during the year 1914 paid expenses. This result has been brought about through the indifference of the states and the state legis- latures. Between Washington and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, involving both sides of the Potomac River and the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, there are probably, on an average, not less than five thousand pound nets set for shad, and in addition there are thousands of gill nets and a few seines. The large seines which were the predomi- nant apparatus in former years have been almost superseded by the more economic trap or pound net. There are places on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay where until a year or two ago unbroken lines of pound nets extended for several miles from shore. The rivers have had their mouths absolutely blocked, and Secretary Redfield has told a committee of Congress that the shad in order to reach their spawning grounds not only needed a college education, but required the aid of charts and had to be familiar with the navigation laws. It is almost a physical impossibility for fish in many of these important streams to get more than a few miles above the mouths. That is the condition we are up against in the east. Mr. Cobb: Dr. Smith's remarks remind me very much of the condi- tion I found prevalent in Albemarle Sound in North Carolina one year. The little county of Chowan has a water frontage of somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 miles. In that area I found 999 pound nets that year, and they were running out in strings of from five to seventeen each. If a fish could get by there he was certainly a lucky animal. 60 Pacific Fisheries Society Prksident: We liiul in California lliat wo Iiavo some foreigners there wlio assist us greatly in tlie proteelion of tish. Take for example the crab men around San iM-aneiseo Hay; they are continually co-operat- ing with us for the betterment of laws and conditions around the bay, but the fishermen that Mr. Holder refers to are a set of Japanese and aliens that are located around Los Angeles, and they are particularly bad. They have no respect at all for the law and have never shown any disposition to co-operate with the Connnissioner of the State in the pro- tection and propagation of the I'lsh. The situation there is pretty l)ad in some idaces. 'I'ake for example on the Klamath River ; there the nets arc stretched across the river to such an extent that it is almost a physi- cal impossibility for a salmon to ascend that stream. The stream is not very wide and is so completely and thoroughly netted that the hsh have no chance. We attempted at the last session of the legislature to have certain restrictions passed, but we did not get the full measure of what we thought was right. However, we compromised in order to get any- thing through at all and the conditions there are now a little better than they were before. We hope, however, to have some better laws passed at the next session to improve the conditions at that point. PACIFIC COAST BIOLOGICAL STATION, DEPARTURE BAY, B. C. By C. IV1CLi:y\N I''kasi:k, Curotor Iti tlic prc-Darvvinian days, wlicn every one had llii' idea of a se])arate creation fcjr each species of animal and i)lant, an in- stitution for stiidyinj^ the relation of species to s])ecies, of or^an to orj^an, etc., was not even desirahle. Later, when the tlu'ory of evolution in some form had hecome widely accepted, inter- est was aroused not only in the relation of si)ecies to species and (jrj^an to orj:^an, but also the relation of s])ecics to its en- vironment. In the sea as well as on land, there are always certain localities that are better suited for certain forms as well as for life in g-eneral. Naturally, therefore, there is a tendency for those interested in the study of life to seek out these localities. This is done readily on land, since one familiar with the requisite conditions can readily see if these conditions exist in any locality. This is not so true in relation to the life in the sea, as the conditions can nc^t be taken in readily with a glance, but much work of a varied nature has to be done before even an estimate can be made. Since that is the case, it follows that progress cannot be made everywhere at the same time, but instead, certain Ujcalities must be picked upon that offer not only an a])pearance of richness of life bnl also accessibility and a possibility for using facilities for research. This has led to the establishment of marine biological stations in many localities. At first these stations were of purely scientific interest, as the mass of the peoj)le were slow to see that they, with no scientific knowledge, could obtain any advantage, direct or indirect, from any knovvlerlge that might be obtained from ihe work of the scientist in this regard. Naturally, under these conditions there was little chance for getting much government support. As time wore on there was a gradual change in the viewpoint. When it became more widely kncjwn that the study of the life-history of many plants and animals led to the (lis- 62 Pacific Fisheries Society covery of new methods for increasing- the supply of useful products, for making use of what was previously a waste and for eradicating forms that are harmful, the interest in research became extended beyond the narrow bounds of those directly engaged in it to many others who felt that benefit from such research was to be derived by all. In all countries with demo- cratic government, and perhaps even where autocracy is sup- posed to hold sway, the acts of the government must to some extent be an index of the opinion of the people, hence as an outcome of this interest various governments began to give assistance, as represented by experimental farms and stations, agricultural colleges, etc., on land, and marine biological sta- tions on the seashore. This assistance has become more and more noticeable, but is still far from being as complete as is desirable, largely because there are still many legislators, prob- ably backed up by constituents, who cannot see that any in- formation in any field of biological research must be of value, directly or indirectly, to every other field. They still separate the economic from the scientific, with the idea that anything scientific can never have any economic value and hence money spent in furthering scientific work is money thrown away. The government of the United States made an early start and now for over 40 years the laboratory at Woods Hole, in connection with the Bureau of Fisheries, has been doing useful work. During these years the scientific work of the bureau has expanded and other stations have been established. In that regard the Pacific Coast has been somewhat neglected, but if I understand it aright, it will soon be impossible to make such a statement. The extensive work of the "Albatross" all along the coast has helped to make up for this deficiency. Although Canada gave early support to much exploratory work, she has been somewhat behind in the matter of starting biological stations. It was not until 1899 that the first marine station vv^as established at St. Andrews, N. B. Not so very long afterwards the needs of the Pacific Coast were recognized by the establishment of a station on the north shore of De- parture Bay, near Nanaimo, B. C. Much of the credit for the establishment of this station was due to the late Rev. G. W. First Annual Meeting 63 Taylor, a field naturalist and omnivorous collector, who, work- ing principally through the Royal Society of Canada, so much impressed the necessity of a station on this coast on the De- partment of Fisheries, that a start was made and a building erected ready for use in the summer of 1908, under the direc- tion of Mr. Taylor, who was appointed first curator. Almost any location which afifords harbor or wharf accom- modation on the west coast would provide plenty of oppor- tunity for investigation, but Departure Bay was chosen on account of some special features. There is no safer harbor on the coast for all weathers and the station site is conveniently situated and easy of access since it is but three miles by water and four and one-half miles by road from Nanaimo, which provides the greater part of the supplies needed and has good boat service to Vancouver and good train service to Victoria. This means much to a station that is kept open the whole year round. It is favorably situated because it is within easy reach of the large archipelago situated along the east coast of Van- couver Island between Nanaimo and Victoria and not so very far from the equally extensive archipelago lying between the north end of the island and the mainland, while across the Strait of Georgia it is not so far to the mouth of the Fraser and the Point Grey fishing grounds. Consequently, quite a large portion of the 25,000 miles of tidewater line of British Columbia is less than a day away. For that reason it is a good center from which to work at problems concerning all the food fish of this part of the coast, with the possible excep- tion of the halibut, as well as for the majority of the species of invertebrates of commercial value. It is pre-eminently a herring center and, since the herring serves as a food supply for a great number of marine forms, that in itself is quite an important matter. Without going outside the bounds of the bay much can be learned concerning the life-history of the herring, coho, spring and dog salmon, steelhead, blue or green cod, rock cod, capelin, the white perch and several of the flat fish, not to mention several other forms that as yet are not considered desirable as food, while the common butter clam and the little-necked clam, as well as the common mussel, are found right at the door. 64 Pacific Fisheries Society On account of the volume of fresh water coming- into the strait from the Fraser river and several other rivers and streams, water of all degrees of salinity is found within a comparatively narrow range. Within even a smaller range may be found every variety of shore, from extensive tide- flats to the steepest promontories, with every variation in cur- rent from the still water of the quiet bay to the tide rip of Dodds or Seymour Narrows. With these may be coupled an- other fact not to be despised, viz., at all the spring tides in the summer time the low tides come at suitable hours of the day for collecting. I shall not refer to the richness of the fauna and flora ex- cept to say that anyone who has had a chance to compare the marine life of the Pacific Coast, almost anywhere from Puget Sound to Bering Sea, with any portion of the Atlantic Coast, for instance, will be quite satisfied to stay with the west and its problems. One other point should be mentioned, although it does not apply to Departure Bay more than to many other points on the coast. It is the fact that during the whole year investigation may be carried on in comfort, in which regard we are much better ofif than similar stations along the Atlantic Coast, even than those very much farther south. The start for the station was not a very pretentious one. A building was erected with a laboratory accommodation for eight investigators, with library, dark-room, etc., a dining room and four bed-rooms. The caretaker's house, with the kitchen, was built separately but near by. So far these build- ings have not been added to but tent accommodation has been provided for some of the summer workers. For a time few facilities were provided but these were gradually added until now a fair provision is made, although much still remains to be supplied. The boat equipment is fairly satisfactory. A 40- foot gasoline launch with 20 horse-power engine provides the most important means for transportation. It is a good sea boat with accommodations for four, or, if necessary, six, on a prolonged cruise, although it is not very often used for trips that take more than a day. An 18-foot launch with a 3 horse- power engine serves for shore collecting and for making short First Annual Meeting 65 trips. Several rowboats complete the outfit. The supply of dredges, tangles, nets, etc., is not very extensive, but this will be remedied in the near future. The laboratory is fairly well equipped with glassware, preservative material and general reagents. In the first couple of years the library facilities were almost a negative quantity, but Mr. Taylor put his library at the dis- posal of those who worked at the station. After his decease the scientific portion of the library was secured by the Bio- logical Board and in the meantime many other volumes had been obtained. Other additions have since been made until now there are 800 or 900 volumes, apart from a considerable collection of separates. Men in other parts of the country are not likely to realize how much the library means to us here in the northwest. In the east arrangements can be made for obtaining books from Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Washington, and in the south from California and Stanford, but here we have no large library within easy reach. It takes a long time to get books from any of the centers if we could arrange for it, and in any case the express or postal rates make much of it prohibitive. During the early years of the life of the Canadian stations the direction of the work lay in the hands of the Biological Board, a board consisting of university professors, with the exception of the chairman, who was the Director of Fisheries at Ottawa. The funds for the carrying on of the work, how- ever, were administered through the Department of Fisheries at Ottawa. As some of the officials of this department were not at all times conversant with the needs of the board, the authority which they possessed was not always used to the satisfaction of the board. Somewhat over two years ago, in the spring of 1912, a change for the better was made in this connection, giving the Biological Board of Canada wider pow- ers. The personnel of the board was not changed and Com- missioner Prince remained as chairman of the board, but the annual grant through the Department of Fisheries is given as a lump sum to be administered by the board without any reference to the government officials, except that the account- 66 Pacific Fisheries Society ing has to pass the examination of the auditor-general. No official of the Fisheries Department, with the exception of the minister himself, has any say in the work of the board, either concerning the matter of disbursements and appointments or the nature of the work to be carried on. The board is therefore entirely non-political and consequently is not handicapped as it might possibly be under other conditions. The Pacific Coast station has not been overly well sup- plied with either funds or men since its establishment, but at present the prospects are brighter. That does not mean that the work has been at a standstill, because a good beginning has been made along several lines. That the public at large is not fully aware of the tangible results from these beginnings is partly due to the lack of unity in the method of publication. The board has published three volumes of Contributions to Canadian Biology, each containing a number of papers, but this does not represent by any means the full number of papers that have been published. Apart from these the greater num- ber of papers have appeared in the publications of the Royal Society of Canada, the Geological Survey of Canada and the Royal Canadian Institute, but others have appeared in scien- tific magazines of Canada, the United States and Europe. Along with the work that has been done by investigators who have visited the station may be placed the work of' those, either in Canada or elsewhere, to whom material has been sent for examination and report. Much of this has been of a tax- onomic nature, for in this locality, as in every other, a large amount of work of a systematic nature had to be done at the outset before the other branches of biology could be entered upon with much chance of success. With this as a basis prob- lems bearing on the life-history of forms of economic import- ance have been worked out. As has been stated. Rev. G. W. Taylor, curator of the sta- tion from its establishment until his death in 1912, was an extensive collector and naturally, therefore, a systematist. Al- though he confined his attention in taxonomy to fishes, mol- luscs and decapods largely, he collected in all invertebrate groups and in many cases sent large collections away to be First Annual Mcetin^^ 67 worked up. In this way a general idea of the most con- spicuous forms at least was obtained. This information was readily supplied to other workers who wished to make use of it. Unfortunately, for two years or more before his death he was not physically able to go on with his work as he wished, and many of his notes that would have been of value to science if he had had a chance to assemble them, were not put in shape that could be made use of by others. After Mr. Taylor's death the writer was appointed curator. His work at the station in previous years in association with Mr. Taylor provided a connecting link with the work already done. The curator continues the marine investigation throughout the year. All the other workers have held university posi- tions and hence have had to confine their visits to the summer months, but in many cases material has been collected and carried away so that odd moments snatched from regular duties during the year might be applied to a continuance of the work on the problems started during the summer. Now that the board is likely to receive better financial support it is the intention to gradually add to the permanent force in order to have a number of experts along certain lines to be able to give definite first-hand information to the Minister of Fisheries on any scientific question that may arise in connection with his department. Already some attempt has been made to do this, but the questions have been too numerous as compared wfth the number of investigators to make it possible to give satis- factory information in all cases within a reasonable time. As yet this plan is too tentative for me to give any detailed infor- mation concerning it. Certain economic problems, however, are already receiving some attention and others are looming up for attention in the near future. Practically every one of these problems will require years of work, hence it is all the more desirable that the same individual should .tackle the prob- lem year after year, and this can be done most satisfactorily by his being able to give his whole time throughout the year. The most important problems now being attacked are : A study of the life-history of the herring and of the halibut, the 68 Pacific Fisheries Society iodine content in plant and animal tissue, the magnitude and value of the kelp beds, and the relation of the salinity of the sea water to its specific gravity which will serve as a basis for a great variety of problems. Incidentally, the work of making a biological survey of the region is slowly progress- ing. In 1896, in 1905, and in 1908, attempts were made to introduce lobsters into the \'ancouver Island waters. In one instance these lobsters did very well for three months or more, after which all trace of them was lost. Later, in 1909, a num- ber were hatched at the station and the young lobsters were liberated in the bay, but nothing has been seen of them since. Under the circumstances at the time it was not possible to fol- low up the experiments far enough, but there was nothing to show definitely that the rearing of lobsters on this coast was an impossibility. What little evidence there was was in the other direction. The Minister of Fisheries thinks it wise to experi- ment further in this regard (the U. S. Bureau is evidently of the same opinion, judging from recent developments), and that a better basis may be obtained on which to work a sur- vey of the coast in the vicinity will be made to decide upon the more desirable locations for lobster production. As there are many such that seem similar to those on the Atlantic Coast, where the lobster makes its home, it will require some time to complete the survey, but in connection with it other useful information should be obtained. A start will be made at the survey this summer. The board, while realizing that all scientific work is eco- nomic, has decided that since there are so many problems of special economic importance requiring scientific investigation, that these shall receive the first call and for the present atten- tion will be focused upon them. Before concluding, I must say a word concerning the sta- tion in relation to its only near neighbor, the Friday Harbor station, controlled and operated by the University of Wash- ington and sister institutions. We are about 70 miles apart, across an imaginary line that, since it passes through the Strait of Haro, is so imaginary that it hinders communication very little and scientific communication not at all. The problems to First Annual Meet in if 69 be faced at the Friday Harbor station arc much similar to those at the Departure Bay station, hence any work done at the one must of necessity be of value to the other. There is no danger of either running- short of work in the present gen- eration at any rate, hence there is no necessity for or indica- tion of rivalry between the two. It is a pleasure to refer to the cordial relations that have existed, do exist and I have no doubt always will exist, between the workers at the two stations. SALMON HYBRIDIZATION By Prof. E. Victor Smith Of the University of Washington Some work has been done on hybridization among- the members of the family Salmonidse, particularly among the different species of the genus Salmo. The work has been carried on largely among the forms found in Europe and east- ern America. It is probable also that almost every hatchery superintendent in the country has yielded to curiosity and car- ried out with varying degrees of success experiments in cross fertilization of the different species spawnings at the same time in his territory. So that this paper has nothing to reveal that is new or startling-. It aims to record observations that the author has made on the offspring resulting from a reciprocal crossing- of the chinook salmon (Oncorhyiiehus tschawytscha) with the silver salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). These crosses have been made in almost every hatchery on the coast, but in most instances careful observations have not been made, consequently many strange and erroneous ideas prevail among the men who have performed the experiments. Practically no observations have been made on the hybrid- ization of these salmon in the natural state. The adults of these species are readily distinguished and the very few taken that appear to fall between the two have been classified with the one or the other of these species and not as hybrids. The investigations to be described were carried on during the fall and winter of 1913-14 at the state hatchery near Auburn, Wash. The State Fish Commissioner, Mr. L. H. Darwin, kindly placed the equipment of the hatchery at my disposal. Owing to the distance of the hatchery from the uni- versity, personal observations were not made as frequently as desirable. The experiment was begun during the last week of Octo- ber when about 6,000 silver salmon eggs were fertilized with chinook salmon milt and about 4,000 chinook salmon eggs were fertilized with silver salmon milt. These figures are rela- 72 Pacific Fisheries Society tive, as the eg^gs were measured and not counted. The eggs were placed in contiguous baskets in the same hatching trough, so that the conditions of water were practically identical. For the sake of convenient naming, the offspring of the female silver salmon and the male chinook salmon will be called silver hybrids and the reciprocal cross breeds will be called chinook hybrids. Consider first the observations made of the eggs spawned from the silver female. During the first five days 20 eggs were removed from the basket. These eggs showed no signs of development of the embryos having taken place, and were probably not fertilized. All the rest showed development. Thus, only one-third of one per cent of the eggs failed to be fertilized. The low temperature of the water at this season of the year retarded development so that the eggs were not dis- turbed again until the 27th of December, when 507 eggs were removed. Of these 55 were so overgrown with fungus that no observations as to the development of the embryos could be made. The remaining 452 showed dead embryos in various stages of development. Thus, during the sensitive period about 8.3 per cent of the embryos died. Between December 27th and January 16th, 105 more dead embryos were removed, and on the latter date 57 more were taken from the basket. The 57 were near the hatching stage. The hatching period, which began about the middle of January, was much longer than that for the pure silvers. Between January 16th and March 2nd, 291 embryos died at the hatching stage and 127 more died just after hatching. Up to this time 1,107 embryos died, or more than 18 per cent of the original number. After this the mortality was not significant and was confined largely to the abnormal forms, a considerable number of which de- veloped. The abnormalities began to develop shortly before the com- plete absorption of the yolk-sac. There were about 225 fish in which these peculiarities were pronounced. These fish were considerably longer than their fellows of the same age and developed remarkable strictures in dift"erent parts of the body. The most pronounced stricture and the one universally present was located just posterior to the opercula. This stricture gave First Annual Mccfino- 73 the fish the appearance of having a pronounced neck. In most cases the pectoral fins were more or less atrophied and were directed obliquely upward and backward. The head was bent downward and around the neck-like part was developed a collar of a silvery luster. The ends of this collar were not united on the dorsal side of the neck but came quite close together. The next place where another stricture most frequently occurred was between the anal and caudal fins, and this one usually in- volved the adipose fin. In extreme cases the tail seemed al- most severed from the body. The stricture of the caudal ex- tremity was frequently attended with modifications of the anal and caudal fins, the anal fin being atrophied and the base of the caudal being much narrowed. In a few specimens the dorsal fin was considerably reduced in size. Occasionally strictures occurred in other parts of the body, but were less pronounced. The more emaciated ones developed a decidedly lumpy condi- tion over the entire body. The stricture back of the opercula did not seriously involve the oesophagus yet the fish thus deformed took no food. They seemed incapable of co-ordinated movement and all their motions were erratic. When they set- tled on the bottom of the trough they always turned over on their sides. Those that were normal ate heartily and developed into as well favored and shapely fish as the pure silver or chinook. They were retained in the hatchery and fed until midsummer when they were turned into the river. The following illustrations represent clearly the malfor- mations of the Silver hybrids : 74 Pacific Fisheries Society Consider next the observations made on the 4,000 eggs of the Chinook salmon which were fertihzed by the silver salmon milt. During the first five days 15 eggs, which showed no signs of having been fertilized, were removed from the basket. In this cross about the same per cent of eggs failed to show development as in the reciprocal cross. Between the 2nd of November and the 27th of December, 17 eggs were removed, all of which showed dead embryos in various stages of devel- opment. Between December 27th and January 16th, 80 more v.ere removed, the majority of which died during the last days of this period. Thus, during the early period of development within the egg. the mortality was much greater among the embryos of the silver mother than among those of the chinook mother. Between January 16th and March 2nd, 807 more dead embryos were removed, nearly all of which died during the hatching period. The most serious mortality took place while the fish were in the yolk-sac stages. Between March 2nd and April 9th, 1,468 died, the majority of which had not absorbed the yolk. Up to the last date the total number of deaths was 2,387, or more than 59 per cent. The relation of the foregoing facts is brought out clearly in the following table : Of 6,000 Of 4,000 Dead removed — Silver Per Chinook Per hybrids Cent hybrids Cent First four days "20 .3 15 .34 Before hatching 669 11.1 97 2.4 During hatching 291 4.85 807 20.2 After hatching *127 2.1 1,468 36.7 Total 1,107 18.4 2,387 59.7 Among the chinook hybrids there were no cases of malfor- mation. A comparison of the external characteristics of both hybrids were made wnth the pure fry of the silver and chinook at the same stage of development. Twelve normal fish of each were taken at the time the yolk-sac was completely absorbed so far as could be determined by external observation. The * The few in excess of the 127 that died after hatching were almost all malformed. Of the 225 malformed fish the large majority were taken out alive. If all of these had died the total number of deaths after hatching would have been 352 mstead of 127. This would have increased the total number of deaths to 1,332, or a little over 22 per cent. First Annual Mcetino- 75 greatest length and depth of each fish were recorded, the length being measured from the tip of the snout to the base of the caudal fin ; the number of parr marks was counted on both right and left sides and count was also made of the number of rays in the anal fin of each, the short anterior rays being included in the count. The following tabulated statement gives a summary of these comparisons : Silver Chinook Silver Chinook hybrid hybrid Variation in length.. 24-30.3 mm 30.5-35.6 mm 30.3-32 mm 26-39 mm Average length 28 mm 32.5 mm 31.3 mm 34.3 mm Variation in great- est depth 5-7 mm 5.6-7 mm 6.3-7.3 mm 6-8.5 mm Average greatest length 6.3 mm 6.7 mm 6.8 mm 7.2 mm Variation in parr rt. It. rt. It. rt. It. rt It marks 7-9 6-9 9-13 9-12 8-12 9-12 9-13 8-13 Average number of rt. It. rt. It. rt. It. rt. It parr marks 8 7.7 11.2 10.8 11.5 10.3 10.3 10.6 Variation in num- ber of anal rays 15-17 19-20 16-18 13-14 Average number of anal rays 16.3 19.6 17.2 15.2 COMPARISON OF COLOR MARKINGS Silver Salmon. — The dorsal fin has a decidedly orange color, except along the anterior border, which is black. This border extends to the outer tip of the fin but gradually becomes less pronounced as the tip is neared. The caudal fin is of a deeper shade of orange than the dorsal, the color diminishing in intensity from the base distally. The inter-ray spaces are dotted with black while the rays are free from them. In color the anal fin is similar to the dorsal. The rays are without black dots while the inter-ray spaces are dotted with black but not so darkly as in the anal fin. Just anterior to this fin is an irregular green spot. The ventral fins are slightly tinged with orange and are without dots on either the rays or the inter-ray spaces. A still more delicate shade of orange tinges the pectoral fins, which are also entirely free from black dots. Excepting a narrow ventral band running longitudinally, the body is covered with irregularly polyhedral black dots ranging from .25 mm to .1 mm in diameter. There is a uniform grad- ation from the largest dots on the ventral side to the smallest 76 Pacific Fisheries Society on the dorsal. On the back these black dots are very close together and form two narrow longitudinal black bands ex- tending from the head to the base of the tail. These bands are separated by a very narrow light line which is more pronounced in the silvers than in the chinooks. The parr marks are nar- rower than the interspaces and are divided into two almost equal parts by the lateral line. Chinook Sal»ioii. — The difference in color markings be- tween the chinook and silver fry is largely one of intensity. Scarcelv any of the orange color, which is so decided on the fins of the silver, is seen on those of the chinook. A slight tinge suft'uses the dorsal and caudal fins, scarcely a trace is seen on the anal, and the ventral and pectoral are without a trace. The dark shading on the dorsal and caudal fins re- sulting from the presence of the black dots is similar to that of the silver but less pronounced. Black dots so decided in the anal fin of the silver are entirely absent in that of the chinook. and the remaining fins are without color markings of any kind. The ventral area without black dots is consid- erably larger than in the silver and the rest of the body is of a lighter shade. The parr marks are broader than the inter- spaces. Sik'cr Hybrids. — In external features this hybrid resembles the maternal ancestor much more closely than it does the pater- nal. The coloration of the fins is quite similar to that of the pure silver, differing only in intensity. Of special interest is the resemblance of the anal fin to that of the pure silver in that the black dots are present on the inter-ray spaces of both silver and silver hybrid but entirely absent in the pure chinook. The color of the body is like that of the silver fry. Consid- erable variation is seen in the width of the parr marks.- In the majority of these hybrids the parr marks are narrower than the interspaces but in a number they were equal to or greater. The extremes of variation were not infrequently to be observed on the same fish. Chinook Hybrid. — This hybrid in its color markings lies between the silver hybrid and the pure chinook. Its fins are less deeply tinged with orange than the silver hybrid but more First Annual Mccthii^ 77 deeply than the pure chinook. A few black dots are scattered over the anal fin, showing the influence of the paternal ancestor. A similar irregularity characterizes the width of the parr marks that was pointed out in the silver hybrids but the aver- age width of the marks is greater and a greater per cent of the hybrids have the parr marks wider than the interspaces. CONCLUSIONS In both crosses between silver and chinook salmon a very high percentage of the eggs are fertilized. In the experiments described over 99.5 per cent of the eggs showed development. The offspring of both crosses were very delicate in the early stages of development and the mortality was very high, being nearly 20 per cent of the silver hybrids and about 60 per cent of the chinook. The mortality among the silver hybrids was highest before hatching and among the chinook during the yolk-sac stage. In time of development the hybrids followed the maternal ancestor, the silver hatching and developing earlier than the chinook. In external appearance the hybrids exhibit char- acteristics intermediate to those of the parents, but they re- semble the maternal ancestor much more closely than they do the paternal. The silver hybrids develop in many instances malforma- tions, as strictures in various parts of the body, which did not appear in the chinook hybrids. DISCUSSION President : Possibly there are others among the members here pres- ent who have had some experience in the line of hybridization, and if there is anything that anyone wishes to offer we should be glad to hear from him. Mr. Kinney: I would like to ask Professor Smith whether these experiments were both carried on at the same time? Prof. Smith : Both experiments were carried on at the same time, in the same trough, and with the same conditions of water. Mr. Kinney: One placed above the other? Prof. Smith : The water flowed directly from one basket to the other. President : Was there any chance of this malformation being due to bacteria? Prof. Smith : I haven't made a microscopic examination of the strictures. I intend to make that later, so I could not answer that question at present. 78 Pacific FisJicrics Socictx IMr. O'M alley : In this connection I might state that during the fall of 1907 the Bureau of Fisheries conducted an experiment similar to that conducted and explained by Professor Smith, namely, a cross between the silver salmon female and the male chinook. Out of about 5,000 eggs collected, 3,500 were reared to good sized fish and they appeared at all times to be strong and healthy. A part of these were exhibited in a small aquarium with the Bureau's display of live fishes in Seattle at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. These fish were held until they were 12 or 14 inches in length and liberated into the Clackamas River, a tributary of the Columbia River. A year later an opportunity came to try the cross with chinook eggs and silver salmon male but in this case the resulting fish were not as healthy as in the former case. In both experiments deformities simi- lar to those described by Professor Smith occurred. A Member: Mr. Chairman, I was up at Reed College when the kings were coming out this year, and I noticed a number of them came head first out of the shell, and the others came out tail first. The gentleman at the hatchery told me that in general there was a greater number of malformations among those that came out head first than among those that came out tail first. Prof. Smith : From what I learned at the hatchery at Auburn the mortality was much greater among those that came out head first, but no observations were made as to the relative number of malforma- tions. President : Before we take up the matter of rearing and feeding of salmon fry, we have two other short papers which we would like to have read. Mr. Secrctarv, will vou read them for us? SAFEGUARDING THE SALMON By L. M. RICE (Read by Mr. John N. Cohl)) It is not necessary for me to point out how much depends on our efforts in educating the thinking people of Washington to the necessity of safeguarding the sahnon in the streams. We hatchery superintendents who have been long in the ser- vice notice the decreasing number of fish which each year come up to the spawning beds, a decrease due no doubt to the im- proved appliances of the fishermen, and we cannot fail to realize the need of appropriations for hatcheries and legis- lative protection for the fish. The day when natural spawning, with its accompanying waste of fish life, would supply the streams has passed. You well know how by artificial or hand-spawning the milt comes in direct contact with each and every egg, so that if performed by an experienced man all are fertilized and few, if any, are lost. I remember well how some years ago when I was sup- erintendent at Kalama, Mr. A. C. Little, then Fish Commis- sioner, impressed on the minds of all the men the wastefulness of natural spawning, which, in his opinion, was as old-fash- ioned as child-birth without a midwife. Each of the super- intendents was to watch and find where salmon were spawn- ing. We did so and dug up about one hundred eggs, of which an average of sixteen lived. I have always wondered how many of the sixteen were alive a week after they had moved out into the current. We must admit that the fry, held in the hatchery from one to three months, and until the sac is ab- sorbed, has much better prospect of life than has the natural egg in the spawning beds, with a chance of being covered too deeply, of being washed out by splash dams, and of being destroyed by other perils, of which the young salmon hatched the previous year is amongst the worst. This yearling, having attained the length of from four to six inches, develops quite an appetite for the small fry, and consumes them in large quantities until he takes his departure from the spawning 80 Pacific Fisheries Socictx grounds about the first of June. But here again hatchery fry may receive protection, for we can hold them in the rear- ing pond until their hungry brothers have gone to sea. It would seem that the unlucky salmon need our assistance, not only at their spawning and in the first weeks thereafter, but also when they start down the river. What with the fish traps and nets, and the breaking of log jams with powder, these fish have a rough trip to the sea. Why does not our legislature require of loggers that they break their jams with the donkey engine? The very streams appear to conspire against the salmon. For illustration, I will, with your permission, refer to the region where I work — the upper Satsop country. Here there is a branch of the Satsop river known as the Martin or Middle East Branch, which being a swollen stream in the winter, induces large numbers of salmon to go there to spawn. But as the days grow warmer and the summer approaches the stream shrinks until there is a dry bed and the fish die. Count- less fish might be saved if the dry beds throughout the state were guarded by dams, so that eggs would not be spawned to die. DISCUSSION Prof. Smith : Did that paper say that the yearlings ate the ones that were turned loose? I just want to know that for my information. President : Mr. Rice is here and can probably give his views. Mr. Rice : Some of them are more than yearlings, and some of them are turned out under this. They will will eat young fry. They swallow them. President: The questions covered by this paper will largely be taken up when we come to the paper on the rearing of salmon. We will simply pass the discussion until after the reading of that paper. IMPROVEMENTS NECESSARY IN THE HATCHING OF SALMON By S. Butts Superintendent, Willapa Hatchery, Lebam, Wash. Being unable to attend your meeting, it gives me pleasure, however, to present some of my ideas on the artificial propa- gation of fish and the improvements that I think are neces- sary, some of which are now in use, but not generally so. We have in most of the coast streams of Washington and Oregon three distinct runs of fish, viz., the chinook salmon, the silver salmon and the steelhead trout. The first begin to ascend the various streams for spawning purposes about Sep- tember first ; the second, about November first, and the third about February first, the last continuing until about May tenth, which gives us upwards of eight months in which to take spawn, and, consequently, the same length of time in which to liberate the fry. Fry begin descending the streams at about four months of age. The smaller and weaker ones sometimes remain in fresh water until eight or nine months old. The stronger ones are descending the streams about the time we are liberating the fry of the second run, and both being of a cannibalistic nature, the elder devour the younger ones to an alarming extent. Thus the first liberated fry become the greatest menace to the industry. Of course, there are always trout and other small fish in our salmon streams, but not in such numbers as the older salmon fry. The same thing happens when we are liberating the fry of the third run ; those of the second run are descending the streams and gorge themselves on the younger ones. To obviate this great destruction, we should have retaining ponds to rear them in and feed them until they are four or five months old. The erection of the ponds might mean the expenditure of considerable money, but I think it would be economical in the lonp- run. 82 Pacific Fisheries Society One other improvement I would suggest is the erection of an ice plant at one or more of the larger hatcheries, so that any of the smaller ones could be furnished with ice when necessary, as the weather is warm in September, and some of the hatch- eries are so located that the fishing grounds are quite a dis- tance from the plant. They should have boxes to carry the spawn in from the grounds to the plant, and so arranged as to keep the spawn both cool and damp. It is sometimes neces- sary to use ice in the lead trough in order to keep the tempera- ture below fifty degrees. I have had the temperature to reach sixty degrees at this plant and the fry to hatch in twenty-seven days. These fry were premature and the mortality was more than double what it should have been. DISCUSSION President: That paper too goes into the subject of a retaining pond, and we might as well have all the papers on that subject, and then have a general discussion. The Pacific Fisherman started this discussion by asking for opinions from the various Commissions on the rearing and feeding of salmon fry, and we have a statement from Dr. Smith in a letter to the Pacific Fisherman in which he outlines briefly the policy of the Bureau of Fisheries to retain the fry and feed them until they reach the fingerling length, and after that we have a statement from Mr. O'Malley. Mr. O'Malley : In this connection I have to say that for many years on this coast we have taken care of our fry until up to the time of the absorption of the yolk sac, then, as a rule, on acocunt of limited funds, and really at a time when they need the greatest care, we have been obliged to liberate them, to be preyed upon by their various enemies. Baker Lake, Washington, is an example, where the destruction of fry from Dolly Varden trout is the worst of any place that has come under my personal observation, and is the more to be regretted as it is the only source of supply of sockeyes to Puget Sound within the United States. Dr. Smith has adopted the policy in California. Oregon, Washing- ton, and also in Alaska, I believe, to construct suitable rearing ponds at each station to care for as many fry up to the fingerling stage as funds will permit. This year, at the Bureau's stations tributary to the Columbia. Clack- amas, Little and Big White Salmon stations, feeding operations were conducted and between two and three million fish were fed until they reached the age of fingerlings No. 2^/^. Food in sufficient quantity and at a reasonable cost has been a serious question for many years, but this is now being taken care of by using Columbia River smelt. These are purchased at a cost of $20.00 per ton f. o. b. the cold storage plants. A charge of $20.00 for the season is paid for freezing and holding, thus the cost of fish food the past season was about 2^ cents per pound, delivered at the hatcheries. This food is prepared by first cooking it until First Annual Meeting 83 all bones are softened, then it is pressed into cakes with a press not unlike the old fashioned cider press. Large quantities can be prepared at one time and will keep a long time if held in a dry, cool place. When needed for food, it is grated to the desired size, depending on the age of the fry to be fed. The grating machine is of home made construction and run by power and will grate the food very rapidly. This class of food was used at all our stations the past season after the fish were feeding in good shape, they being first started on liver, and later mush was added, liver being too expensive for extensive use, as it cost 9 cents and 5 cents per pound for beef and hog liver each, respectively, f. o. b. Portland, Ore. We have also used canned culled salmon in conjunction with other food and when properly prepared this gives good results. In all cases with us the mixed diet has given the best results. President: In California we have had in years past considerable experience with holding and feeding salmon fry, and this work was at that time in charge of Mr. W. H. Shebley, who has prepared a paper which he sent to the Pacific Fisherman, and I would be glad to have him read it and tell us what he knows about the feeding of fry. REARING AND FEEDING SALMON FRY IN CALIFORNIA By W. H. Shebley California Superintendent of Hatcheries. The first salmon fry fed in California was after the estab- lishing- of the Sisson Hatchery in 1888. The United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries in 1883 quit operations at Baird Hatchery on the McCloud River. Only 1,000,000 eg-gs had been taken that season. The salmon had greatly decreased in the Sacramento river, owing to the operations of the mines on the tributary rivers destroying the spawning beds, and the unrestricted fishing on the lower reaches of the river, as well as the wholesale slaughter of the breeding fish by miners, Indians and others during the period that they were entering the tribu- tary streams to spawn. In 1883 the United States Commission collected approxi- mately 1,000,000 of eggs at the Baird Hatchery during the en- tire season, this being the smallest take in the history of the work on the McCloud river since the preliminary work of establishing the station in 1872, when the first attempt at the propagation of the Pacific salmon was made by Dr. Livingston Stone. The salmon, although greatly depleted in numbers in the Sacramento river, had ascended as far as Baird in numbers sufificient to give from 2,000,000 to 14,000,000 eggs each season from 1872 to 1883. The latter year the salmon in the Sacra- mento river seemed doomed to extinction. The falling off this year was due largely to the heavy blasting and other operations on the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which was then being constructed from Redding northward along the banks of the Sacramento river to the mouth of the Pitt river, into which the McCloud river flows. The salmon were undoubtedly fright- ened so that they did not ascend the Sacramento river, besides a great many were taken and destroyed by the grading gangs and used in the camps for food. Thousands of trout and sal- mon were destroyed by powder used by the Chinese and white laborers, of whom there were 9,000 camped along the river ; and while a great many were used as food, there was wanton de- 86 Pacific Fisheries Society struction in the way they were killed. The same condition ex- isted in 1884, and Superintendent Stone of the Baird Hatchery recommended that the station be not operated that season. It remained closed from that date until 1888, the year that the Sisson Hatchery was established by the California Fish Com- mission in an attempt to restore the salmon run in the Sacra- mento river. In 1885 the California Commission decided to establish a hatchery for the propagation of salmon, as the federal g-overn- ment had not again resumed operations at Baird. It was de- cided to establish a hatchery and an egg-collecting station on Hat creek, a large tributary of the Pitt river, where salmon formerly abounded by the thousands during the spawning sea- son. This station was operated for two seasons. The writer was in charge of the work during the last season this station was operated. The work of collecting the eggs was begun early in August and continued until November. Less than 500, 000 eggs were collected as the result of the season's work. The spawning beds in Pitt river and Hat creek that a few years be- fore had been covered with salmon were now deserted. In the spring of 1888 recommendations were made to the Board of Fish Commissioners and to the governor of the state to aband- on the hatchery or close it down for a number of years, and that a station be established lower down the Pitt river or on the main Sacramento river in an endeavor to collect the eggs from the few remaining salmon that ascended the Sacramento to the spawning grounds. It was demonstrated beyond any doubt during the two seasons that the Hat Creek Hatchery was oper- ated that the spawning salmon that remained did not reach Hat creek nor Pitt river near its confluence with Hat creek in numbers sufficient to justify further operations. It was evi- dent to the writer and others who made a study of conditions regarding the spawning salmon that, owing to the greatly di- minished number of fish that ascended the Sacramento river, ample spawning beds were found by the fish lower down and that only a few stragglers ascended Pitt river and its trib- utaries. Acting under the recommendations of the writer, the Board of Fish Commissioners ordered the Hat creek station closed and began to look for another site. First Annual Meeting 87 After a thorough examination and study of the different streams by J. G. Woodbury, the newly appointed superintend- ent of hatcheries, it was decided to locate a salmon hatchery on Spring creek in Siskiyou county, near the town of Sisson. In the meantime arrangements had been made with the United States Commission to open up the Baird hatchery, collect the eggs at that station and ship them to Sisson, where they could be hatched and the fry reared and fed until they were large enough to liberate in the tributaries of the upper reaches of the Sacramento river. This location and plan of hatching and dis- tributing the salmon fry was concurred in by Mr. Woodbury, representing the California Fish Commission, and Mr. Liv- ingston Stone, the superintendent of Baird hatchery. Mr. Woodbury had been Mr. Stone's assistant at Baird during the time of the establishment of the Baird station, and no better authorities on salmon culture could be found, and to this day no marked improvement over their ideas and work has ever been advanced. The writer had personal knowledge of their plans and consulted and worked with both gentlemen. The Sisson hatchery was completed and ready for opera- tion in September, 1888. The floods did not interfere with the work and Mr. Stone operated until late in November. Eight hundred thousand eggs were collected from the early fall run, and 2,200,000 from the October and November, or late fall run. These eggs were hatched and the fry fed until they were large enough to care for themselves and then carefully distributed in the upper reaches of the Sacramento river and its tributaries. The work of feeding the fry was continued until 1895, when it was discontinued by the Board of Fish Commissioners, as a matter of economy, and because of a wrong idea that had been advanced by those who were dictating the policy of fish cultural operations in California, that the salmon fry were better off if distributed as soon as the umbilical sac was ab- sorbed. The benefit of feeding the fry was plainly demon- strated by the great increase of salmon in the Sacramento river in the years that followed the return of the output of fry from 1888 to 1896. In 1896 27,000,000 eggs were collected at Battle creek station, a few miles below the mouth of the Mc- Cloud river, and 7,000,000 at Baird station from the McCloud 88 Pacific Fisheries Society river. During these years a better and more efficient patrol of the bays and rivers was made during the closed season than formerly ; the laws regarding- the legal size of nets used in fish- ing were enforced, while the Saturday-Simday non-fishing law was enforced strictly. This insurctl a larger number of breeding salmon for the egg-collecting stations. These regulations and the feeding of the salmon fry during the period from 1888 to 1896 were, in my opinion, the principal agents in restoring the salmon to the Sacramento river. After the appointment of the present Board of Fish and Game Commissioners, during the summer of 1911, and the reor- ganization of the Department of Hatcheries, it was decided to again hold and feed the salmon fry until they were large enough to care for themselves when they were distributed, as well as to hold a large number of them in the ponds of the Sisson hatchery until fall, and then release them in the upper reaches of the Sac- ramento river during the early fall, before the winter floods. This method of handling the salmon fry will give them a chance to reach the ocean at an age when they can protect themselves from the predaceous spiny-rayed fishes that inhabit the lower reaches of the Sacramento river and Suisun, San Pablo and San Francisco bays, through which they must pass before they reach the ocean. During the season of 1913 three-fourths of a million fry were held in ponds at the Sisson Hatchery and released during October. This season 21.000,000 salmon fry were held in the troughs, nurseries and ponds and fed until late in the spring. Of this number 2.000.000 were distrib- uted by the California Fish and Game Commission's distri- buting car in the lower reaches of the Sacramento river, near Walnut Grove and Benicia. Four million were placed in the large ponds at the Sisson Hatchery, in perfect condition, where they are fed daily and looked after by a skilled fish culturist. The remainder were distributed in the tributary streams of the upper Sacramento river. Those placed in the ponds will be released during the early fall, so that they can descend the river slowly and reach the lower reaches of the river and the bays at a time when the spiny-rayed fishes are not so active as they are during the summer months. After the temperature of the river falls the bass and other predaceous fishes are not so ac- First Annual Meeting 89 tive in the pursuit of food, and the salmon fry will reach the ocean with less loss than if they are released in the spring or summer. The Fish and Game Commission of the state of California is now preparing- one of the largest and best pond systems in the country for the rearing of salmon fry. Plans are being made to construct enough ponds to hold 10,000,000 salmon fry next season. The fry at the Sisson Hatchery are first held and fed in the troughs about two montiis before they are removed to the ponds. Then they are taken out in small lots and fed until all are accustomed to the new surroundings. The pond keeper distributes the food slowly at the different feeding stations in the ponds until he is satisfied that all the fry have received their share of food. By this method the fry all have the same development and growth and there is no danger of develop- ing a lot of precocious fry to exercise their cannibalistic instincts on the others. During the first cold weather in the fall the fry are ready to be liberated. They are then in readi- ness for their trip to the ocean at a time when there is no danger of their being carried into the over-flow basins, when many of the predaceous fishes have lost their activity, and when the salmon fry are large enough, and conditions of weather and water are such that they will not linger long in the lower reaches of the Sacramento river and bays, but will descend to the ocean with less loss and in better condition than if handled in any other way. The large island district in the lower Sacramento river, and the bays through which it flows before reaching the ocean, makes the propagation of the salmon a different problem than in any other stream on the Pacific Coast. If it were not for the conditions above mentioned, the fry could be hatched and distributed nearer the ocean, but on account of the large bodies of water inhabited by predaceous fishes at the mouth of the Sacramento river it is necessary to hold the fish as long as possible near the upper reaches of the river and release them at a time when they will make the journey to the ocean in the shortest time possible if the best results are to be obtained. President: We have another letter here from Mr. R. E. Clanton, 90 Pacific Fisheries Society Superintendent of Hatcheries of Oregon, and I think that we should incorporate that in the record of our proceedings. I think that I have been told by Mr. Cobb that a number of the gentlemen here have al- ready read that. There are a number of us, as I have stated on several occasions, that are anxious to leave to catch a train, and for that reason I think that what discussion we have to make on this subject would better start in right now and I would like to hear from anyone of the hatchery men here of their views on the subject of holding the fry and feeding them until they reach the fingerling stage. REARING AND FEEDING SALMON FRY IN OREGON By R. E. Clanton Oregon Superintendent of Hatcheries. At the Bonneville Central Station we have thirty retaining ponds in which we are now holding 12,000,000 chinook sal- mon. These ponds cover an area of between four and five acres. In addition to these, we have just completed a system of creek or natural ponds, which were made in the bed of the creek, having changed the channel by diverting the water through same and bringing these ponds under control. Our capacity for holding and feeding- the fry at this station until they are from four to eight months old will be approximately 15,000,000. At the Klaskanine Hatchery we have at the present time approximately 3,000,000 chinook salmon, having recently lib- erated 1,000,000 of the older fish. We have at this station six large artificial ponds covering an area of about one acre. In addition thereto, we have a number of natural ponds made by changing the channel of the river and placing same under con- trol. The feeding capacity of this station is approximately 4,000,000 fry. At the McKenzie River Hatchery we have six small and three large ponds, covering an area of about two acres. Most of the spawn taken at this station was shipped to the Bonne- ville Central Hatchery, retaining only 200,000 fry, which are now being held. The feeding capacity of this station is ap- proximately 2,000,000 fish. The above mentioned hatcheries are located on tributaries of the Columbia river, and in addition thereto, we have six hatcheries located on the various coast streams which debouch into the ocean south of the Columbia River in this state, and at these stations 8,569,575 fish are being fed, making the total number of fish being fed and cared for by the department 23,- 769,575. In giving the capacity of the different stations, it must be understood that this applies only to retaining and feeding the 92 Pacific Fisheries Society fry. Should the capacity be based upon the old system, whereby the greater per cent of the fish were liberated as soon as hatched from the egg, and the balance turned out when the yolk sac was absorbed, the capacity of the different hatcheries of our department would be approximately 100,000,000, as it will be seen that the main building of the Bonneville Hatchery alone is 60 feet wide by 226 feet long, while there are three auxiliary hatcheries there that are 20 feet wide by 100 feet long, all equipped with modern hatching troughs. Three years ago this department adopted a policy of retain- ing and feeding, for at least a period of time, all the fry possible at the various stations throughout the state, and as a result of extensive and thorough experiments which have been conducted at the various State plants, an effort to systematize the pond arrangement in order to secure the best possible results with the fish has since been carried on. We have found that the so-called creek or natural ponds, which are made by placing dams across the small streams in the vicinity of the hatcheries, afford the most natural conditions for the young fish. When the fish are large enough to be taken from the hatching troughs, we have found it necessary to transfer and hold them in the artificial or cement ponds, where the water flow is under complete control, and which are so con- structed that their sanitation can be properly attended to by seining the fish to one end while the other is being cleaned and vice versa. It has been found necessary to exercise extreme care at all times to insure perfect sanitation of these ponds. When the danger of the spring freshets is past and the water in the creek or natural ponds is under control, it has been found advisable to transfer the fry to these ponds, where the continual flow of fresh water, and the logs, rocks, etc., which provide shade and shelter, afford more natural conditions. In addition to the artificial food which is given to these fish, they are en- abled to secure a certain amount of food which nature has pro- vided for them. Acting under instructions, the superintendents of the dift'er- ent hatcheries have given the subject of aeration close attention, and it is the concensus of opinion that some parts of the arti- ficial ponds should be agitated to promote the proper circulation First Annual Meeting 93 of air, while other parts of the ponds should not be disturbed so as to provide still water for the fish. While we have, no doubt, made some important discoveries in connection with our pond work, we are still carrying on investigations along these lines and hope to arrive at a definite solution of the question which is of the greatest importance to the success of the system of retaining and feeding young fish. In our efforts to determine upon a scientific and systematic method of feeding the young fish in the troughs and nursery ponds in order to secure the best results at a minimum ex- pense, we have conducted a series of practical experiments at all of the hatcheries, and although we have made some valuable discoveries and rapid strides of improvement over previous methods, we are continuing our experiments unceasingly in the hope of reducing the cost to the greatest degree of economy consistent with the highest degree of health and development of the young fish. So far, our experience has led us to believe that young fry in the early stages of development thrive better upon liver, as this can be ground finer than other foods, and the blood which it contains is highly nutritious. At some of the stations, however, we have been unable to secure a sufficient supply of liver, owing to the remoteness of the hatcheries, and in such instances have substituted a mixture of grround dried sal- mon and mush (composed of middlings and other wheat pro- duct) which has proven a very satisfactory article of diet for extremely young fry. At one of the coast hatcheries, milk curd which was s.ecured from nearby creameries, was also fed to them with satisfactory results. As the fish grew older we fed them on ground smelt, lamprey eels, spent salmon, both dried and salted, and offal from the canneries. The cheapness of this food has made it possible to retain and feed great numbers of fry with the funds available, which we could not have done had we been compelled to feed liver alone, as the cost of the latter is many times greater. At some of the stations the different foods are prepared by cooking before being ground and fed. Other superintendents have had equally good success by feeding raw foods. Our ex- perience has taught us that it is absolutely necessary that the quality of food should be fresh and absolutely free from taint 94 Pacific Fisheries Society and that due care should be exercised in all cases to insure this condition before utilizing- the food. When any of this food is found to be tainted and unfit for use, however, it is placed in the maggoty and converted into fly larvae and fed in this stage. In this way we have found it possible to utilize every part of the food shipped to the hatcheries. I have not the time to prepare a statement of the amount of food fed last year, but will give you, from our report, the figures showing the total amount of the previous season, which was 50 tons of smelt, 27 tons of eels, 15 tons of wheat products, 8 tons of salmon offal, fresh from the canneries ; 5 tons of sal- mon offal, canned in one gallon cans ; 15 tons of liver, 4 tons of salmon offal, salted ; 10 tons of dried spawned-out salmon ; 10 tons of fresh spawned-out salmon ; 5 tons of milk curd, and one ton of salted spawned-out salmon; making a tota.1 of 150 tons, or 300,000 pounds, of food at the different stations, which ag- gregated in cost $3,400. The amount fed last year and that which will be fed during this season will be a great deal more than the figures given. FEEDING SALMON FRY By M. J. Kinney Member Oregon Fish and Game Commission The Fish Commissioners are responsible for the work done at the different hatcheries, and I beHeve it is their duty to know something about fish culture ; at least, as much as bank commissioners should know about the banking business, in order to check up the work and estimate the efficiency of the different hatcheries. Systematic and painstaking- reports are necessary, and to carry this out, in 1911 the Oregon Commis- sion sent to each hatchery thermometers for water and for air, scales to weigh the food, and fine balances, with globes to hold water, in which to weigh the fish ; kodaks and plain loggers' leveling instruments, with tape, staff, etc., and as complete literature as we could secure on fish culture. Carefully pre- pared blanks, to be worked out once each month, giving the hourly flow of water for each pond, amount of food fed each pond, number of fish in each pond, and weight of the fish on the first of each month, temperature of the water and tempera- ture of the air, for the monthly reports, and if any fish are lib- erated, the date and weight of same. If these records are carefully kept it enables the commission to keep an eye on the work and estimate the value of the output. It matters little to me whether these men are working six or ten hours per day. The true value of results is what I want, and I should prefer that the superintendents put in less time on manual labor and more time in studying the fish and studying nature, as the closer we get to nature the better for the fish. I advocate that our commission shall pay a liberal reward for the best pond or ponds of 250,000 fingerlings and measure the value of each station by results. This will stimulate the superintendents and feeders to do better work. Auditing the books once a year is worth nothing to me unless the fish are audited. In checking up the working of a sawmill it is neces- sary to have a careful inventory of the quantity and value of the output. A healthy fish of 100 grains is worth far more 96 Pacific Fisheries Society than one of ten grains. Spring fish, when caught, are worth four times as much as fall fish. In checking pond work I find three important factors : The daily rations of food for each 100 pounds of fish, the quantity of pure running water per hour in each pond for each 100 pounds of fish, and a liberal amount of shade and ripples and cleanliness are absolutely necessary. Our ponds at Klaskanine have made the best records for 1912 and 1913, pond No. 6 and creek ponds. The fish were kept in the first pond until they reached 25 grains, then turned into creek ponds where they had plenty of green trees for shade and ripples to play in, were fed daily three to four pounds per each 100 pounds of fish, mainly fish food, the fresher the better, and had a water supply of 300 to 400 cubic feet of running water per hour the last month for each 100 pounds of fish. In 1912 the fish weighed 143 grains on July 1st, under Mr. Hatton, the superintendent. In 1913 they weighed 130 grains July 1st, practically the same, under Mr. Freeman, the superintendent. In 1914 they are doing well, weighing 140 grains on July 1st. The best record at Bonneville for 1914 is pond No. 14, which has 300 to 400 cubic feet of pure fresh water per hour per each 100 pounds of fish per day. These fish weighed 70 grains average on May 5th, when they were transferred to the creek pond and mixed with smaller fish, but unfortunately I am not able to furnish a further report of this pond. Fish in other ponds, with less fresh water and less food supply, did not grow so fast. We have squandered a great deal of money in locat- ing hatcheries without looking for an abundant supply of water ; same as building an old fashioned flouring mill without looking for an adequate supply of water to turn the wheels. I have asked our wardens to catch the native fish in the dif- ferent streams and send them to the laboratory so that we could secure the weight and length and age of these fish for compari- son with our pond fish. Our ponds must do as good work as the native fish, otherwise they are not doing standard work. And to note the time and condition that the native fish migrate to the sea. There are many phases in the successful management of the fish business yet to be worked out. We are trying to establish First Annual Mcetini^ 97 some records of expectancy. How many fish we should expect to return from the sea for each million well developed finger- lings of 100 grains weight that we liberate, and whether marked fish from four years' parentage and of a May run will return in May four years hence. These and many such ques- tions we must work out for a forecast record before we can intelligently carry on this work. Commercially, one spring salmon is worth more than four fall salmon, and I do not favor propagating any of the second or fourth class fish. Raising salmon and trout is much like raising stock, a liberal supply of pure, fresh water, pure, fresh air and good food and cleanliness are absolutely necessary, and in many things you should manage your hatchery the same as you would run a stock farm. No good stock farmer would fill his best pasture with fourth class stock, and I object to liberat- ing anything in the Columbia River excepting standard quality spring chinook fingerlings. DISCUSSION Mr. Darwin : I would state that the rearing pond capacity of the State of Washington is as follows : Kalama Hatcherv 2,000,000 Chinook 1,000,000 Samish 350,000 Willapa 100,000 Chehalis 80,000 Dungeness 250,000 White River 300,000 Nooksack 250,000 Snohomish 400,000 Stillaguamish 150,000 Wind River 50,000 The other salmon hatcheries in the State are without rearing ponds. President : I would like to hear from some of the men from Alaska to see what their experience has been. Mr. Henkel will you favor us with some suggestions on this subject? Mr. Henkel: In regard to the fry we are speaking of, I have had no experience in Alaska as to the feeding of fry, but I have had ex- perience in planting fry there, and I would state that the worst enemy we have is the Dolly Varden trout. On several occasions I have ex- perimented in the planting of fry and also experimented in the number of fry that a trout would eat in a certain length of time, and I found in a Dolly Varden trout not six inches in length 125 fry. I also found that they would digest the fry in a little less than two and a half hours, so taking into consideration the number of meals they have each day on fry, you can readily figure out the number of fry they would consume in a given length of time. I think that more work should be put in on the extermination of the Dolly Varden trout rather than the protecting of 98 Pacific Fisheries Society them, and I am sorry to say that several of the states on the Pacific Coast protect them. A friend at Kodiak, Alaska, a resident of San Francisco, requested me to salt some as he wished to take them out with him. I salted two small butter barrels of the trout, and took them to Kodiak, where he carried them on the boat to take with him. When he landed in San Francisco they arrested him for bringing in game fish. I think if that law were done away with, so that the people of Alaska could salt and ship the trout into the states, there would be a demand for them and a market created in a short time. I have kept trout through- out the year by mild salting, and had them on the table at all times dur- ing this period. The salt is very easily soaked out, and by soaking them over night in fresh water one can have fresh Dolly Varden trout for breakfast. President : With reference to Mr. Henkel's statement concerning his friend being arrested in San Francisco. I wish to set the California Com- mission right on that subject. They did bring the frozen Dolly Varden trout to San Francisco, and it was against one of the laws on the books at that time to have any trout in one's possession during the closed season, and this was the closed season. The gentleman came to our office and we told him we would assist him in every way possible, but that bringing in the trout was a violation of the law, and of course we could not give him permission to violate the law, that our duty was to enforce the law. We told him to make a test case and that we would not fight it very hard ; the matter was dropped and drifted along, and I really don't know what became of it. We told him he had no right under the present law to bring in the trout, but that if he would pre- pare a bill to be presented at the next session of the legislature, which was to meet in about a month from that time, that we would do all we could to see that it was passed. When the legislature met I took the matter up with his attorney and told him that we were now ready to present his bill, but he said he did not care to have it presented. I do not know his reason, he told me it was a matter of indifiference to him, that he did not care anything about it. Evidently he has made up his mind not to bring the Dolly Varden trout down from Alaska. Mr. O'Malley (as presiding officer) : Is there any further dis- cussion on the papers before us? We have heard from several people, may we not have a few remarks from Mr. Darwin. Mr. Darwin : I think you can appreciate that I am here at this meet- ing to learn, and I am quite sure that any remarks I might oflfer would be properly discounted by those who have had a great deal of experience in fish culture work. I thank you very much, but I am here to learn and observe, and I should very much like to hear from the others. Mr. Fraser : Mr. Chairman, with regard to your own remarks con- cerning the feeding of fry, I might say that in examining the food they take in I have concluded' that they eat almost everything swallowable. Their main diet consists of crustaceans — either small species or larval forms — but these are of great variety; several different kinds may be found in the stomach at one time. Insects, insect larvae, rotifers, protozoa, eggs and even crustacean sloughs are swallowed, although in the sloughs at least there can not be much nourishment. I should think, therefore, that it would help a great deal to have a range of diet rather than to have any one thing without change. Prof. Smith : One question that has arisen in my mind : in turning out a large number of salmon in the streams — millions of them — how are these streams supplied with food to take care of those salmon between First Annual Meeting 99 the time they leave the hatchery until the time they arrive in the ocean? I do not wonder very much at cannibalism among them under the condi- tions, because I fancy — and that is what I would like to ask if anyone knows about it — that there is insufficient life to supply food for the fish you are going to turn out between the time they are turned loose and the time they get to the ocean. It is going to require a tremendous amount of food to satisfy them. Mr. Henkel: I will say that I have not been here in the states long enough to know what the food is in these waters, but in our observation of the blueback in Alaska waters, we find the waters of the lake have plenty of minute animal life for the fry to subsist on. During the period of two years' sojourn in the lake, we have time after time dragged the lake with small seines and found plenty of crustaceans there for the small fry. We found that the blueback do not enter any streams ex- cept those that have lakes at the head of them, and our observation is that they stay in the lake two years before going to the ocean. Mr. O'Mallev : In connection with liberating young salmon, I want to bring to the attention of this society a method used by the Japanese in Northern Japan. One of their fish culturists visited Clackamas sta- tion several years ago and while there we were discussing the different methods in use. The hatchery at the time was filled to its capacity with fry at the age of the absorption of the yolk sac. I asked what time in Japan they liberated their young salmon. He replied, "When about this age (absorption of yolk sac) we place them in a pond or lake, leaving as it were the door open, and the fry are free to go when they choose, necessary food being provided while they remain in the lake." Each year, he stated, they left about the same time, some going early and stragglers remaining late, but the bulk all went inside of thirty days. I considered at the time that they had a pretty good method of liberating their fry, because at the present time the vital question for the salmon culturist is to know the proper time to liberate his fish. This is a question upon which the scientist can give us valuable assistance. Mr. Mahone : I have been observing for the last two years a little slough near our hatchery at Quilcene. Last year there were several thousand fish in the early part of the season. The water is not very deep and there is a good deal of vegetation there. There were two distinct schools of fish. One was below where our flume crosses the slough that I estimated at one to two thousand. They seemed to all go away together. The fish stayed in the slough until they were five to six inches long. The last spring or late summer, I think February or March, the fish disappeared ; I do not know what became of them. Above the flume there was another school, I could not estimate very well, but I think two or three thousand fish at least. They have all disappeared. This year there is a good deal of water. It is fed by springs, and also the hatchery water and the overflow of the hatchery comes out into this slough. We planted, perhaps, during the season a couple of hundred thousand fish in that little slough. They were away from other fish and could not be devoured by them in the slough, and you will find to- day several thousand fish both from one and a half to four inches long, and the fish look healthy and good. Some gentleman here referred to the fact of eating the old salmon. There were two or three old salmon that died in the slough, and during the time of disintegration thousands of fish gathered around and cleaned up every bit of the fish except the bones. There must have been a good deal of food in this slough, for the fish seemed to be doing well. Regarding food in the river, from ob- servations I have made from time to time I notice little fish all up and 100 Pacific Fisheries Society down the river in little pools, and I have been led to believe that there is much food in the rivers, particularly in the Big Quilcene River. The fish seem to be in good condition, evidently are getting plenty to eat, because when we feed fish at all if they do not get enough you can read- ily distinguish the fact from the big heads and small bodies. I am clearly of the opinion that they get a great deal of food from the rivers. Another point that came up in our community last spring, that the papers commented on somewhat, and which for a time it was a little hard to tell just what the cause was; some discussion that occurred here yesterday brought the matter to my mind. During quite a storm down the bay one day there were thousands of fish, young salmon, so reported, found on the shores of the bay ; they were all dead and crows came and ate them. These fish still had food sacs. Now, the question is, where did they come from ? Some supposed they had come from the hatchery, but none of the fish we had planted within a good many weeks of the time of this occurrence had food sacs, these having been completely absorbed. After studying the matter over, I concluded they had been washed out of the river with the gravel by the floods, and into the bay, and the salt water killed them, the wind washing them up on the shore. Now comes the question brought out by some discussion here — whether fish being put into salt water, in the sac stage, would they live under such conditions. Mr. Fraser : With regard to the growth of salmon in salt water, I have seen large numbers of dog salmon in the sea with a great por- tion of the yolk still unabsorbed and they seemed to thrive very well. I do not know if it is true concerning other species. Just another point with regard to the amount of food in the fresh water. It has been shown very distinctly that fish do not grow as rapidly in fresh water as in sea water. The growth of the scales give a good index of this. In the case of all the salmon and trout that spend a portion of their lives in the sea and the remainder in the fresh water, the scales show the more rapid growth in the sea, as the spaces between the rings are wider than when the fish are in the rivers. Hence, although they may get enough food in fresh water to continue their existence, they do not get enough to grow as they would in the sea. LIST OF MEMBERS, 1914-1915 HONORARY MEMBERS. The President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson. The Governors of certain States : Washington, Ernest Lister. Oregon, Oswald West. California, Hiram Johnson. Montana, S. V. Stewart. Idaho, John M. Haines. Nevada, Tasker L. Oddie. Arizona, George W. P. Hunt. Alaska, J. F. A. Strong. Hawaii, L. E. Pinkham. Dr. Hugh M. Smith, U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries, Washmg- ton, D. C. ACTIVE MEMBERS. Life members indicated by (*). Ainsworth, E. E., White Building, Seattle, Wash. . „r , Allen, H. F., Pres. National Oyster Co., R. 3, Box 67, Olympia, Wash. Anderson, Clarence L., 939 19th Ave. North, Seattle, Wash. Baldridge, Benjamin, Fish and Game Commission, Startup, Wash. Baldridge, Henry, Fish and Game Commission, Palmer, Wash. Baldwin, M. D., Member Game and Fish Com., Kalispell, Mont. Barron, James T.. 1006 Yeon Building, Portland, Oregon. Beach, W. M., Shclton, Wash. , Berry, Frank, Secretary Puget Sound Purse Seme Fishermen s Pro- tective Ass'n, 2509 North 28th Street, Tacoma, Wash. Blass, John, Olympia, Wash. . r. ^ r^ Booth, F. E., Pres. Monterey Packing Co., 110 Market St., San Fran- cisco, Cal. Bothwell, Wm. J., 2732 47th Street S. W., Seattle, Wash. Bower, Ward T., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, 1227 L. C. Smith Building. Seattle, Wash. Bowman, J. B., Oyster Bay, Kamalchie, Wash. Brady, Philip J., Globe Building, Seattle, Wash. Brenner, Chas., Mud Bay, Olympia, Wash. Brenner, J. J., care of J. J. Brenner Oyster Co.. Olympia, Wash. Buschmann, August, L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, Wash. „ „ . , Buschmann, C. H., Mgr. Northwestern Fisheries Co., L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, Wash. Butts, Stephen, Fish and Game Commission, Lebam, Wash. Capell, Arch. T. P., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Oregon City, Ore. Clanton. R. E., Master Fish Warden, Pittock Building, Portland, Ore. Cobb, John N., Editor Pacific Fisherman, 1321 L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, Wash. Conn, C. G., Elkhart. Ind. Crawford, John M.. Fish and Game Commission, Kendall, Wash. Culver, A. E., Dunsmuir, Cal. Cunningham, Edward, Mgr. Pacific Net & Twine Co., Pier 8, Seattle, Wash. Darwin, L. H., Fish and Game Commissioner, Seattle, Wash. ■102 Pacific Fisheries Society Deer, L. H., Shelton, Wash. Doney, A. E., Sisson, Cal. Dorr, Charles W., 375 Colman Building, Seattle, Wash. Doyle, Henry, Vancouver, British Columbia. Duke, Robert D., 734 Mills Building, San Francisco, Cal. Duncanson, H. B., 1913 14th Avenue North, Seattle, Wash. Erismann, Martin C, 621 Colman Building, Seattle, Wash. Eyermann, Dr. Barton W., Director Museum California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Cal. Fassett, H. C, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, St. Paul Island, Alaska. Fletcher, Emery L., Ely, Nevada. Forbes, Robert. Bellingham, Wash. Ford, Ira B., 253 Colman Building, Seattle, Wash. *Fortmann, Henry F., Pres. Alaska Packers' Ass'n, 85 Second Street, San Francisco, Cal. Eraser, C. McLean, Director Biological Station, Nanaimo, British Columbia. Freeman, Miller, 1321 L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, Wash. Gardner, John H., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Birdsview, Wash. Gorman, T. J., 412 Colman Building, Seattle, Wash. Greenebaum, Alfred, 10 Main Street, San Francisco, Cal. Greenwood. Lyle, Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. Guaragnella, T. J., Gen. Mgr. American Fish and Oyster Co., 556 Clay Street, San Francisco, Cal. Gyger, James H., Fish and Game Commission, Elsinore, Cal. Hamlin. Edward H., 206 Mutual Life Building, Seattle, Wash. Hancock, W. K., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Yes Lake, Ketchikan, Alaska. Hanson, O. C, care of Olympia Oyster Co., Olympia, Wash. Heacock, Ray B., Fish and Game Commission, P. O. Box 121, Sea- bright, Santa Cruz Co., California. Helser, D. R., Olympia, Wash. Henkel, C. P., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Oregon City, Ore. *Henshaw, Wm. G., 762 Mills Building, San Francisco, Cal. Henver, Harry J.. U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Clackamas, Ore. Hobart, Wm. B., Kalama Hatchery, Kalama, Wash. Holder, Dr. Charles F., 475 Bellfontaine Street, Pasadena, Cal. Hunt, E. W., Fish and Game Commission, Tallac, Cal. Hurley, Dan, Olympia, Wash. Hylen, I. N., Sec. Alaska Fishermen's Union, 93 Steuart Street, San Francisco, Cal. Johnson, Sydney E., University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. Jones, E. Lester, U. S. Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries, Wash- ington, D. C. Jordan, Dr. David Starr, Stanford University, Cal. Joyce, Hans, 1917 9th Avenue West, Seattle, Wash. Ingham, Dr. , Olympia, Wash. Kelly, Jr., H. L., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Oregon City, Ore. Kincaid, Prof. Trevor, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. Kinney, M. J., Member Fish and Game Commission, 518 Yeon Build- ing, Portland, Ore. Kofoid, Dr. Charles A., University of California, Berkeley, Cal. Lambson, G. H., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Baird, Cal. Laws, Geo. O., Fish and Game Commission, Weaverville, Trinity Co., Cal. Leuenberger, John, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Clackamas, Ore. Lowman, Will A., Anacortes, Wash. First Annual Meeting 103 McFarland, Wm. H., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Duckabush, Wash. McGowan, H. S., McGowan, Wash. McGowan, John D., Ilwaco, Wash. McHugh, T. C, Gen. Mgr. Pillar Bay Packing Co., L. C. Smith Build- ing, Seattle, Wash. Mahone, A. H., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Quilcene, Wash. Manning, Thos. S., Avalon, Cal. Mansfield, Walter D., Merchants' Exchange Building, San Francisco, Cal. Mayhall, L. E., Fish and Game Commission, Seattle, Wash. Millett, J. P., Fish and Game Commission, Seattle, Wash. Mitchell, Hugh C, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Birdsview, Wash. Morrow, J. A., Mud Bay, Olympia, Wash. Moser, Capt. Jeff'n F., Gen. Supt. Alaska Packers' Association, San Francisco, Cal. Munly, M. G., 1006 Yeon Building, Portland, Ore. Newbert, F. M., Member Fish and Game Commission, 609 K Street, Sacramento, Cal. Nidever, H. B., Fish and Game Commission, Box 86, Vallejo, Cal. O'Malley, Henry, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, 1227 L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, Wash. O'Neill, Thos., Shelton, Wash. Opsund, Theo., Fish and Game Commission, Salem, Ore. Osterud, H. L., University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. Ouellett, L. P., Olympia, Wash. Palmer, Russell, 1321 L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, Wash. Parsons, J. E., Bellevue, Wash. Parsons, Theodore, Fish and Game Commission, Kalama, Wash. Patching, Fred, Supt. Fortmann Hatchery, Loring, Alaska. Persell, W. E.. Arctic Club, Seattle, Wash. Peters, J. M., Fish and Game Commission, Olney, Oregon. Rice, L. M., Fish and Game Commission, Satsop, Wash. Richards, W. W., 1512 Broadway. Oakland, Cal. Romine, Alexander P., 4730 20th Avenue N. E., Seattle, Wash. Russell, J. R., U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Birdsview, Wash. Schaeffle, Ernest, Executive Secretary Fish and Game Commission, 734 Mills Building, San Francisco, Cal. Schmitt, Waldo L., U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C. Schulz, H. A., Fish and Game Commission, Kalama, Wash. Scott. J. H.. Olympia. Wash. Shebley, W. H., Fish and Game Commission, Sisson, Cal. Shultz, William, Friday Harbor, Wash. Siebe, John T., 430 Battery Street, San Francisco, Cal. Simmons, R. D., Mud Bay, Olympia, Wash. Sims, E. A., Port Townsend, Wash. Smith, Prof. E. Victor, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. Spuhn, Carl, 602 Concord Block, Portland, Oregon. Taylor, S. K., Oyster Bay, Kamalchie, Wash. Thompson, William F., Stanford University, Cal. Van Duzer, H. B., 581 Jackson Street, Portland, Ore. Warren, Frank M., 1107 Yeon Building, Portland, Ore. Wentworth, Edwin, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Duckabush, Wash. Westerfeld, Carl, Member Fish and Game Commission, 854 Mills Build- ing, San Francisco, Cal. Wilke, Henr3^ Ketchikan, Alaska. Winn, Dennis. U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Afognak, Alaska. Wold, H. P. A., University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. Young, Jack, Fish and Game Commission, Deadwood, Ore. CONSTITUTION (As amended to date.) ARTICLE I. NAME AND OBJECT. The name of this Society shall be the Pacific Fisheries Society. Its object shall be to promote the cause of fish culture; to gather and dif- fuse information bearing upon its practical success, and upon all matters relating to the fisheries ; the uniting and encouraging of all interests of fish culture and the fisheries, and the treatment of all questions regard- ing fish, of a scientific and economic character. ARTICLE II. Any person shall, upon a two-thirds vote and the payment of one dollar, become a member of this Society. In case members do not pay their fees, which shall be one dollar per year after the first year, and are delinquent for two years, they shall be notified by the treasurer, and if the amount due is not paid within a month thereafter, they shall be, without further notice, dropped from the roll of membership. Any person can be made an honorary or a corresponding member upon a two-thirds vote of the members present at any regular meeting. The President (by name) of the United States and the Governors (by name) of the Pacific Coast States, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, and Alaska and Hawaii territories shall be honorary members of the Society. Any person shall, upon a two-thirds vote and the payment of twenty- five dollars, become a life member of this Society, and shall thereafter be exempt from all annual dues. ARTICLE III. OFFICERS. The officers of this Society shall be a president and a vice-president, who shall be ineligible for election to the same office until a year after the expiration of their term ; a vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive committee of seven, which, with the officers before named, shall form a council and transact such business as may be neces- sary when the Society is not in session — four to constitute a quorum. ARTICLE IV. MEETINGS. The regular meeting of the Society shall be held once a year, the time and place being decided upon at the previous meeting, or, in default of such action, by the council. ARTICLE V. ORDER OF BUSINESS. 1. Call to order by president. 2. Roll call of members. First Annual Meeting 105 3. Applications for membership. 4. Reports of officers. a. President. b. Secretary. c. Treasurer. d. Standing committees. 5. Committees appointed by the president. a. Committee of five on nomination of officers for ensuing year. b. Committee of three on time and place of next meeting. c. Auditing committee of three. 6. Reading of papers and discussion of same. (Note. — a. In the reading of papers preference shall be given to the members present. b. The president and secretary are empowered to arrange the papers of the meetings of this Society.) 7. Miscellaneous business. 8. Adjournment. ARTICLE VI. CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION. The Constitution of the Society may be amended, altered or repealed by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any regular meeting, provided at least fifteen members are present at said regular meeting. B B TRANSACTIONS =OF THE= PACIFIC FISHERIES SOCIETY 1915 Eili jal TRANSACTIONS OF THE PACIFIC FISHERIES SOCIETY AT ITS SECOND ANNUAL MEETING August, 9, 10 and 11, 1915 AT SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA SEATTLE, WASH. PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 1916. s^ y?^ (ifftrrra 1915-1916. Elected at the Second Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, for the ensuing year, including the meeting to be held at Portland, Oregon, in 1916: President Mr. Henry O'Malley, Seattle, Wash. Vice-President Prof. Trevor Kincaid, Seattle, Wash. Vice-President Dr. Charles L. Edwards, Los Angeles, Cal. Secretary Mr. John N. Cobb, Seattle, Wash. Treasurer Mr. Russell Palmer, Seattle, Wash. lExpnttittP CSIammittr? Dr. Barton W. Evermann, San Francisco, Cal. ; Dr. C. McLean Eraser, Nanaimo, British Columbia ; Dr. Charles F. Holder, Pasadena, Cal; Mr. Leslie H. Darwin, Seattle, Wash.; Mr. M. J. Kinney, Portland, Ore. ; Mr. Ward T. Bower, Seattle, Wash., and Mr. M. D. Baldwin, Kalispell, Montana. >s N ^^ CONTENTS (r- ^ Business Sessions: ■•■J Registered Attendance 9 New Members 9 Report of Secretary 9 Report of Treasurer * 10 Committees Appointed : Nomination of Officers 1 Time and Place of Next Meeting 1 Auditing 1 Resolutions 1 Memorial 1 Election of Officers .— 12 Time and Place of Next Meeting 13 Banquet 13 Resolutions of Thanks for Courtesies 14 In Memoriam 15 Papers and Discussions : The Pacific Edible Crab. By F. W. Weymouth 19 Growth of the Spring Salmon. By C. McLean Eraser, Ph. D 29 Economical Foods for Rearing Salmon. By Henry O'Malley... -.. 41 Paranzella, or Trawl Net Fishing in California. By N. B. Sco- field 45 Oceanward Trend of Our Northwest Fisheries. By John N. Cobb 53 Extending the Range of the Golden Trout. By A. D. Ferguson.. 65 Some Food and Game Fishes of Southern California : Their Habits, Present Condition, Need of Protection, Etc. By Dr. Charles Frederick Holder 71 The Close Relation of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Great Fishing Interests of the Pacific Coast and Alaska. By E. Lester Jones 83 Oyster Culture in Washington. By Trevor Kincaid 89 Sanitary Fish Markets 98 List of Members of the Society 99 Constitution 103 PART I BUSINESS SESSIONS Transactions of the Pacific Fisheries Society The second annual meeting was held at San Francisco, California, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 9, 10 and 11, 1915. Monday, August 9, 1915 The meeting was called to order in the Assembly room of the Mills Building by the president, Mr. Carl Westerfeld, of San Francisco, Cal. REGISTERED ATTENDANCE The president then ordered the roll-call of members to be taken. Thirteen members were registered for the meeting, as follows : Carl Westerfeld, Henry O'Malley, Trevor Kincaid, E. Vic- tor Smith, John N. Cobb, B. W. Evermann, Ray B. Heacock, C. McLean Eraser, W. H. Shebley, E. W. Hunt, Robert D. Duke, N. B. Nidever, and Ernest Schaefifle. NEW MEMBERS The secretary then read the following list of applicants for membership, all of whom were elected : J. J. Cryderman, Lee H. Wakefield, Frank S. Fusco, John Gill, William L. Finley, *Frank W. Weymouth, Henry O. Smith, J. B. Hauer, Frank A. Shebley, Fred Barker, E. P. Mathewson, *J. J. Reynolds, Richard Squire, L. Phillips, Fowler Mallett, '^R. S. Johnson, *N. B. Scofield, *Charles L. Edwards, *George F. Sykes, *Nathan Fasten, Edward M. Hodgkins, William A. Peters, *WilHs H. Rich, A. D. Ferguson, John W. Pew, Wm. Timson, James Madison, Charles E. Hume, Mansfield Lovell, Frank B. Peterson, J. K. Armsby, Juda Newman, Joseph Durney, Louis Ward, Wm. Adamson, O. P. Jenkins, and H. B. Torrey. Note. — Those designated by an asterisk were present at all or part of the sessions. REPORT OF SECRETARY The secretary then read his annual report as follows : August 9, 1915. To the Officers and Members of the Pacific Fisheries Society: The principal part of the work of the Secretary has been that of editing and pulilishing the Transactions of the First annual meeting held in Seattle, in 1914. The volume, which comprises 105 printed pages. 10 Pacific Fisheries Society was issued early in 1915, the delay being caused by the necessity for pro- viding funds to pay the cost of same. With the aid of our regular funds, the sale of copies of the Transactions, and through the generosity of certain members, the greater part of the cost of same has been met. As editor of the Transactions the Secretary endeavored to keep down the cost as much as possible by condensing the section devoted to busi- ness proceedings, and he thinks an inspection will show that nothing essential has been omitted. The papers submitted by the members have been published virtually as they came from the author's hands, and the same may be said of the discussions. Anticipating that there would be considerable demand for the first volume of the Society's Transactions, an edition of 400 copies was authorized by the Executive Council of the Society. Of these 137 copies were mailed to members, 2 copies were mailed to institutions (the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries and the University of Washington), to which the Society was under obligations, one copy to the Secretary of Commerce, one copy to the American Fisheries Society, 2 copies to journals for review, while 123 have been sold. The Secretary now has in his possession 134 copies of the Transactions and will be glad to dispose of these at $1.00 each, the price fixed by the Executive Council. The deaths within the year of the following members has been reported : ACTIVE MEMBERS E. E. Ainsworth, of Seattle, Wash. Charles W. Dorr, of Seattle, Wash. C. H. Buschmann, of Seattle, Wash. At the close of our First annual meeting the Society had an active membership of 126, and an honorary membership of 11. Since then 3 members have died, while up to the beginning of this meeting 17 applications for membership had been received. REPORT OF TREASURER A letter was read from the Treasurer explaining why his report had not been received. It was received some time later and the salient facts of it are as follows : PACIFIC FISHERIES SOCIETY Financial Statement Receipts — Dues 1914 $182.00 Dues 1915 82.00 Applications pending 2.00 Total $266.00 Sale Proceedings 1 13.00 Total receipts $379.00 Disbursements — Total disbursements 308.42 Balance on hand $ 70.58 Attest: Jan. 3, 1916. (Signed) RUSSELL PALMER, Treasurer. Second Annual Meeting 11 COMMITTEES APPOINTED The following committees were appointed by the President : On Nomination of Officers — Dr. B. W. Evermann, Mr. Ernest Schaeffle, Prof. E. V. Smith, Dr. C. M. Eraser, and Mr. N. B. Scofield. On Time and Place of Next Meeting — Prof. Trevor Kin- caid, Mr. Henry O'Malley, and R. D. Duke, Esq. Auditing — Mr. Henry O'Malley, Mr. Ward T. Bower, and Mr. Nathan Fasten. Mr. John N. Cobb introduced the following resolution and the same was adopted : Whereas, Much harm has in the past been done to the commercial and game fisheries of the Pacific Coast through the introduction into its waters of basses, pikes, pike perches and other predaceous spiny- rayed fishes from the east, and Whereas, The United States Bureau of Fisheries has adopted the policy of refusing to supply such fishes for planting in our costal waters, but, unfortunately, in most of our states there is nothing to prevent a private party or parties from planting such fishes ; Therefore, be it Resolved, That we heartily endorse the stand taken by the Bureau in this matter and request that the legislatures of the various states and territories comprised within the geographical boundaries of this Society be requested to enact a law absolutely forbidding the importa- tion and planting of such fishes in their waters. Mr. John N. Cobb introduced the following resolution and the same was adopted : Whereas, There are many special problems of great economical importance to the fisheries of this coast, among which may be mentioned the migrations of the tuna; the surveying of the oyster grounds and the upbuilding of this important industry, which has been in a declining condition for some time ; investigations of the life history of the clam, crab, halibut, salmon, herring, etc. ; work which can best be done by the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, and Whereas, We understand that the said Bureau is sadly hampered or prevented entirely from carrying on this important work by the lack of necessary funds for the maintenance of its present fleet of vessels to carry on the field investigations, and also by the lack of a suitable marine biological laboratory where much of the work can be done, Therefore, be it Resolved, That this Society most earnestly requests Congress to so increase the appropriations of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries as to en- able it to adequately and properly carry out the much needed Pacific Coast investigations outlined above, also to provide funds for building, equipping and operating a marine biological laboratory on this coast, and the Council of this Society is hereby ordered to aid the Bureau to its utmost when the latter's detailed plans are outlined a little later on. Upon motion the following committee was appointed to draw up suitable resolutions expressing the great regret of the Society at the passing away of certain of its members since 12 Pacific Fisheries Society the last annual meeting: Mr. R. D. Duke, Mr. Ernest Schaeffle and Mr. R. B. Heacock. Mr. R. S. Johnson, of Washington, D. C, who was present as the official representative of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, then delivered the following message of greeting from Dr. Hugh M. Smith, United States Commissioner of Fisheries : Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Pacific Fisheries Society : I wish to announce that U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries Dr. Hugh M. Smith sends through me greetings to the Pacific Fisheries Society. He regrets his inability to participate in the work which you are now about ready to take up, but hopes that this second meeting of the Society may prove highly successful. He particularly desires to assure the Society of the hearty cooperation and support of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries in all matters which have for their object the betterment of the fisheries of the Pacific Coast. The Society then adjourned for the day. The afternoon was spent in a most enjoyable automobile trip to the interesting places in and near the city. Tuesday, August 10, 1915. The morning session was called to order by President Westerfeld in the lecture room of the Young Women's Chris- tian Association, at the Panama-Pacific International Exposi- tion. Mr. Charles A. Vogelsang, who for many years was the Chief Deputy of the Fish and Game Commission of the State of California and who is now a Commissioner of the Panama- Pacific International Exposition, delivered a brief address of welcome to the Society on behalf of the Exposition authorities, which was responded to by the President. ELECTION OF OFFICERS The Committee on Nomination of Officers, through Dr. Evermann, its chairman, reported the following nominations of officers for the ensuing year: For President, Mr. Henry O'Malley ; for Vice-president, Prof. Trevor Kincaid ; for Vice-president, Dr. Charles L. Edwards ; for Secretary, Mr. John N. Cobb ; for Treasurer, Mr. Russell Palmer. Moved, seconded and carried that the above be elected as the officers of the Society for the coming year. The committee also recommended that the following be elected as an Executive Committee : Dr. Barton W. Evermann, of San Francisco, Calif. ; Dr. C. McLean Eraser, of Nanaimo, British Columbia ; Dr. Charles F. Holder, of Pasadena, Calif. ; Mr. Leslie H. Darwin, of Second Annual Meeting 13 Seattle, Wash. ; Mr. M. J. Kinney, of Portland, Oregon ; Mr. Ward T. Bower, of Seattle, Wash., and Mr. M. D. Baldwin, of Kalispell, Montana. Moved, seconded and carried that the Executive Committee as named be elected. TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING Mr. Henry O'Malley, chairman of the Committee on time and place of the next meeting, reported that the committee recommended Portland, Oregon, as the place for the next meeting, and that the date be decided upon later. Moved, seconded and carried, that Portland, Oregon, be selected as the place for the next meeting, and that the fixing of the date be left to the Council of the Society. The following papers (both of which were illustrated by lantern slides) were read and discussed: Prof. Trevor Kin- caid, "Oyster Culture in Washington" ; Prof. Frank W. Wey- mouth, "The Pacific Edible Crab." The afternoon session was called to order in the Lecture Hall of the Inside Inn, Panama-Pacific International Exposi- tion, with President Westerfeld in the chair. As he had to leave shortly thereafter Mr. Henry O'Malley then assumed the chair. Letters of regret at not being able to be present were read by the Secretary from the following members : Dr. Charles F. Holder, Mr. C. G. Conn, Mr. E. Lester Jones, Governor Ernest Lister, of Washington ; Governor Emmet D. Boyle, of Nevada ; Governor George W. P. Hunt, of Arizona, and Governor J. F. A. Strong, of Alaska. The following papers were read and discussed : Dr. B. W. Evermann, "Some Side-Lights on Recent Fur Seal Inquiries" ; Dr. C. McLean Eraser, "Rate of Growth of Spring Salmon" ; Prof. E. Victor Smith, "The Development of Young Salmon Under Varied Conditions of Light." In the evening a banquet was tendered the members and their ladies by the local fishery interests. It was given at the Tait-Zincand restaurant and proved a most enjoyable affair. Ex-Governor John M. Slaton, of Georgia, was a guest and made a short address. During the course of the evening 14 Pacific Fisheries Society remarks were made by President Westerfeld, President-elect O'Malley, Mr. R. D. Duke, Prof. Trevor Kincaid, Dr. B. W. Evermann, Mr. John N. Cobb, and others. Wednesday, August 11, 1915. Session called to order by President Westerfeld in the lec- ture room of the Young Women's Christian Association, Pan- ama-Pacific International Exposition. Moved, seconded and carried that the thanks of the Society be extended to the Young Women's Christian Association for the use of its lecture room. At the suggestion of the Secretary, it was moved, seconded and carried that copies of the Transactions of our First Annual Meeting be given to all those who have become members since that meeting. Moved, seconded and carried that the thanks of the Society be extended to the California Fish and Game Commission, and to all persons who have extended courtesies to our Society since we began our sessions in this city. The following papers were read and discussed : Mr. Ilenry O'Malley, "Economical Foods for Rearing Salmon" ; Mr. John N.Cobb,"Oceanward Trend of Our Northwest Fisheries"; Dr. Charles F. Holder, "Some Food and Game Fishes of Southern California: Their Habits, Present Conditions, Need of Pro- tection, Etc."; Mr. N. B. Scofield, "Paranzella, or Trawl Net, Fishing in California"; Mr. A. D. Ferguson, "Extending the Range of the Golden Trout" ; Mr. E. Lester Jones, "The Close Relation of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Great Fishing Interests of the Pacific Coast and Alaska." Second Annual Mcctinl lilts (It lll.ll pcisoti. 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