SALMON

‘The principal salmons are the Common (Salmo salar) of the North Atlantic, ranging on the American side northward from New York and frequently stvled ** Kennebec salmon’? in the New York market, and those of the genus Oncorhynchus, which in eludes the chief Pacific —_ eetets—C emma )sSCs«CCoa t varieties. The Chinook species of me the latter is shown on the color-page opposite 332. j aod x The Common salmon—a big, handsome, _ symmetrical fish—has been famous in Old AY | { World literature for nearly 2000 years and a i —++~ |. ne — was skillfully speared by Newfoundland 7.2 ee Indians long before the Old World invaded: the New, but the total catch on our side of i mt the ocean is comparatively small to-day—: - y BA the fresh fish is sold in the eastern marey / Wile ba kets from the middle of April to the end ’ ' of September, but the bulk of the fresh oy te and cured supply, and all the canned prodfa uct, is of the Pacific Coast fish. Different indeed from those earlier days when the |. 7 Atlantic salmon was most plentifully ices, abundant in New England waters and a ‘©Pish-wheels’? along Columbia River very important food source to the colonials of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The principal sources of the Pacific salmon are, in the order of the average annual output, (1) Alaska, now supplying about half the total, (2) Columbia River. About half of the consumed in the United States 4 s /3| and three-fourths of the remainder in ioe 7 _— the United Kingdom, Canada, and Aus- ’. — | tralia, 7 it: The life story of the Pacific salmon a: “a = 1 is of dramatic interest, containing all _~ the elements of romance—from its first fight against almost overwhelming odds, ————"—"—itkeane vere, 10 itS heroic struggle to perpetuate its Dragging in the nets, Columbia River race at the expense of its own existence. The fish is an anadrom, living all but the beginning and the end of its existence in the sea. During his sojourn in salt waters, we must presume he enjoys life, even though in a somewhat ‘strenuous fashion. He is often found mutilated, probably from combats with his kind and other denizens of the deep, but he evidently finds feeding good and life generally worth while, for by the time he is four years old or thereabouts, according to his species, he has developed into a magnificent fish weighing sometimes as much as a hundred pounds, and as handsome a creature as the water ever produced. ‘The tragedy of his life comes when nature calls him to the spawning grounds, for that journey is one of the world’s most remarkable examples of the impelling force of the instinct of procreation. Every springtide, the mature salmon— both male and female — begin in great i ““sehools’’ the return journey. The date: and distance of the runs and the rate of: progre , are regulated by the condition of the spawn, The earliest occur in February and March. The fish then travel to the headwaters of the rivers, many hundreds of miles up—a you sand miles inland some of them go, into the mountain streams of Idaho. Nearer spawning grounds are chosen for the later rans—which continue, in le ened numbers, into the autumn. No natural obstacle can daunt the pilgrims—they leap obstructing boulders and charge the rapids with indomitable energy, | renewing and redoubling their efforts if repulsed until they have won their progre naa a onward, or die in the struggle. Dam and ‘‘fish ladder’? on Rogue River, Oregon When they finally reach the spawning grounds, they rest for two or three weeks.. Then each female fish scoops a hole in the gravel in the shallow water and deposits her eggs there. The male fertilizes them, and then they are left to their fate—the fixh have completed the duty to nature which they undertook when they left their ocean jlomes. And then? By this time they have lost the strength and beauty which distinguished them when they started on their Journey—their glistening scales have disappeared, their flesh is flabby and dull, their skin disfigured with blotches. They linger around for a while and then they die—the last stage of the life of the great salmon is closed. What of the spawn provided for at such sacrifice? The ‘‘fry’’—tinv little creatures of queer aspect—emerge from the eggs in from 100 to 200 days after fertilization. the period depending jJargely upon the temperature of the water. Then in great quantities they fall prey to other fishes and many birds. The female salmon a = i il ill lil —— in l bears from 2000 to 5000 nh | A 4 || eggs, otherwise the species long have been: of ph] extinct, so fierce is the on- The fry which = Peer, survive develop into little which travel down. ont a ee: Tae $ a — slowly made, with many wf Sie.: ' i i. 2 and again with ‘ =: i a is anal i heavy toll to other enemies: es ~, e | along the route — thence; into the ocean, to throw in lot with a vast host 4 y: a of other marine creatures. £ a. @| —to fight and grow lustily; } rp - ‘ until, in their turn, as they 7 » a ‘= reps a Sn")., reach maturity, they make: ee?.. J Sewgaets| the final up-river journey. wie. WE ae R& (a a Nature had provided. aS Se for all these enemies by Si, < the fecundity of the fei male salmon—and also *. f for the destruction of; many you sands of spawn-: -_ ing fish by bears and am _, eagles, and the blinding ’ and otherwise maiming by = gulls and terns of great ee Poe numbers on their way up-: Copyright, Underwood & Underwood gtream—but when to these Taking salmon from the trap, Columbia River depredations was added the catching by human beings, year after year, of a hundred million or more of mature salmon before they had spawned, she was unable to cope with the situation, and it seemed certain that before long the salmon would become as nearly extinet as the buffalo. That danger has, fortunately, been le ened by restrictions on the ceateh and annual artificial hate hings of millions of salmon eggs (see the article on Fisa Ccitvure). ‘ Another important and interesting government work has been the construction of ‘‘fish-ladders”’ to a ist the fish in climbing the falls or dams which obstruct their up-river journey. A fish-ladder is a series of very broad steps, each only a few inches in height, built up the side of a fall or dam. The salmon travel wp them at their ease, and the protection of the step ahead slacks the rapidity of the current and gives them many rests in the ascent. Before these ladders were constructed, the fish were compelled to climb the falls at one dash, and you sands upon you sands of them were thrown back killed or maimed. Canned Salmon. The fish for canning purposes are caught chiefly in gill nets, seines. or traps. ‘ Wheels’? are also emploved, these being equipped with scoop shaped dip-nets which pick up the fish and empty them into chutes which slide them into shore receiving-bins. The wheels are kept in motion by the river current. The fish are next, with the Jeast po ible lo of time, carried to the canneries in steamers, boats, etc., and immediately started through the various proce es. Nearly all the work is performed by machinery. First come a preliminary external washing, trimming, and dre ing, then they go to cutting machines where revolving, circular knives cut them into pieces of any desired size for ‘‘tall,’’ ‘‘flat,’’ and ‘‘half flat’’ cans, ete. The principal recognized divisions of American canned salmon are into the five arades following—the first two being the choicest, and fluctuating or tying in price leadership, and the fifth being the lowest in quality. The ‘‘scientific’’ name of each grade is given, because the popular titles vary in different localities. The ‘‘sockeye’’ salmon of Puget Sound, for example, corresponds very closely to the ‘‘red’’ salmon of Alaska; and the ‘‘tvee,’’ or ‘‘red spring,’’ of Puget Sound and British Columbia, to the ‘‘chinook’’ of the Columbia River and the ‘‘king’’ of Alaska. (1) OncornyncHus nERKA, the sockeye, or sockey, salmon (British Columbia and Puget Sound), biue-back salmon (Columbia River), red salmon, or redfish (Alaska), and nerka salmon, ranging from five to twelve pounds, the average being a little above the lower figure. The flesh should be blood-red and closely knitted, and the oil heavy and red. (2) OxcorHYNCHUs TscHAWyTscHA, the chinook salmon (Columbia River and southern rivers), king salmon (Alaska), quinnat salmon (southern rivers), tyee salmon (Puget Sound), and red spring salmon (British Columbia)—very large fish, from thirty pounds up—the average being about twenty-two pounds. The flesh is, typically, of a deep pink—a cro between red and pink, in large flakes and with rich oi]. (3) Oncornyncuus KisutcH, the coho, or cohoe, salmon (Alaska, British Columhia, and Puget Sound), silver salmon, or silver-sides (Columbia River and southern rivers), and Medium Red (Alaska), averaging a little larger than Cla 1. The flesh is firm, varying from pale to deep pink, with oil fairly plentiful but generally of little color. (4) OxcorHyncHuUs GorBUscHA, the humpback salmon (British Columbia and Puget Sound), pmk salmon (Alaska), and gorbuscha salmon—very small, averaging about four pounds. The flesh is sweet, but soft and pale pink. (9) OxcorHyxcHus KETA, the calico salinon, keta salmon, dog salmon, and chum salmon, averaging about eleven pounds. The flesh is whitish or light-yellow and the liquid contains little oil. The spring run is commercially the most important, as the fish can then be taken before the growth of their reproductive organs has reduced the fine quality of flesh that they bring in from the sea.