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Blueback Salmon; Sockeye Salmon
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The blueback salmon is found from the coast of southern Oregon, north to northern Alaska and Kamchatka, and Japan. It has been occasionally reported from the Sacramento and Klamath rivers, but is not at all common south of the Columbia. The principal rivers in the United States which it frequents are the Columbia, Quinialt and Skagit, in each of which very great runs occur. It enters the Fraser in enormous numbers, and is the most abundant and valuable salmon in Alaska.
The runs in the different rivers begin at different times, depending partly upon the distance of the spawning beds from the sea, and the temperature of the water.
The run in the Columbia begins in March or April, and the fish ascend to the headwaters of the Salmon River in Idaho, which they reach in July and August, a journey of some 1,000 miles from the sea. In the Skagit the run begins somewhat later, the fish reaching their spawning grounds in and above Baker Lake in August and September.
The run in the Fraser River is synchronous with that in the Skagit, or possibly a little later. In Alaska most of the streams which it enters are relatively short, and the runs do not begin until a short time before the spawning period. So far as known the blueback enters only such rivers as have lakes in their head-waters, and the spawning beds are always either in the inlets to the lakes or in the lakes themselves; so far as known there is no exception.
In the Columbia River this salmon is called the blueback; in the Fraser it is the sockeye, sawkeye, or sau-qui; in Alaska it is the red salmon or redfish, while among the Russians it is the krasnaya ryba.
In certain small lakes in central Idaho, northeastern Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are found 2 forms of this salmon, one weighing 3 to 7 pounds, and known as the redfish, the other 10 to 12 inches long, and weighing one-half pound. The latter is known as the little redfish, Kennerly's salmon, or walla.
It has been definitely proved that the large redfish come up from the sea and are identical with the blueback salmon. The little redfish does not appear to differ structurally from the large redfish, and has been thought to be the young of that species; if it is not, then the young blueback is unknown. The migration from the sea of these small fish has not been observed, and there is some strong evidence showing them to be resident in the lakes in whose inlets they have their spawning beds.
These small redfish are known from the Redfish Lakes of Idaho, Big Payette Lake in Idaho, Wallowa Lake in Oregon, Washington, Sammamish, and Ozette lakes in Washington, and many small lakes in British Columbia and Alaska.
Next to the chinook salmon, the blueback is the most important fish on our west coast, while in Alaska it is more valuable than all other species combined. In the Fraser River it is exceedingly abundant, and is extensively canned along the lower course of that river, and about the northern end of Puget Sound. The annual catch of salmon in Puget Sound amounts to more than $4,000,000, and consists chiefly of bluebacks and chinooks.
The blueback salmon reaches a length of 2 feet and a weight of 3 to 7 pounds. It is one of the most beautiful and graceful of the Salmonidae, and as a food-fish is scarcely inferior to the chinook salmon. Its flesh is of attractive colour, rich in oil, and of superior quality when canned.
We have carefully observed the spawning habits of both forms of the redfish and the chinook salmon in the headwaters of Salmon River, Idaho, during 2 entire seasons, from the time the fish arrived in July until the end of September, by which time all these fish had disappeared. A number of important questions were settled by these investigations. In the first place, it was found that all of these fish arrived upon the spawning-beds in perfect physical condition so far as external appearance indicated, no sores, bruises or other mutilations showing on any of more than 4,000 fish examined. During the spawning, however, the majority became more or less injured by rubbing against the gravel of the spawning-beds, or by fighting with one another. Soon after done spawning every one of these fish died, not only both forms of redfish, but the chinook salmon as well. There was no tendency to run down stream, but they all died on or near their spawning-beds. The dying is not due to the injuries the fish receive while on the spawning-grounds; many were seen dying or dead which showed no external or other injuries whatever.