PACIFIC SALMON

Evening Star, Issue 19161, 30 January 1926, Page 1

PACIFIC SALMON

INVESTIGATIONS IN NMB9I Dr Charles H. Gilbert, who holt&f the chair of zoology at Stanford Uni* versity. California, and Mr John P< Babcock, of Victoria, British Columbia, chairman of the International Fisheries Commission, reached Auckland by the Tofua this week alter having spent » month in the Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa groups of island’s. "Our trip,” said Mr Babcock to a reporter, "is one of pleasure and fop rest. We have not been in the South Seas before. __ Next month or more will be spent in Now Zealand, the main; portion of the time in the South Island. From Dunedin we go to Melbourne and Tasmania, and we sail from Sydney on March 24 via Rarotonga, Tahiti, and San Francisco. “ In the South Island,” he continued, "we will pay particular attention to the Pacific salmon that have been successfully acclimatised there. The stoete was drawn from California in 1897. Dr Gilbert is the leading authority on the life of the Pacific salmon, and the foremost fishery investigator in North' America.”

, The International Fisheries Commission, of which Mr Babcock is chairman, was created by the Halibut Treaty between Canada and the United States, exchanged in 1924 for investigation and administration of the halibut fisheries or the North Pacific, and in which Canada and the United States ara jointly interested. Mr Babcock is also executive officer of the British Columbia Fisheries Department. The exchange of the Halibut Treaty by Canada and the United State# marks an era in fishing conservation, and it is the first treaty signed by Canada and the first treaty made by the two Governments for the joint administra-tion-of fishery. Speaking of the fisheries of Canada, Mr Babcock said“ In the year 1924, the last data available, Canada’s fishery products were marketed for 44,534,000 dollars, of which British Columbia produced 21,257,000 dollars, or 47.6 per cent. British Columbia’s output that year exceeded that of the province of Nova Scotia, second in rank of the provinces of Canada, by 12,•480,300 dollars, or 142 per cent,, and ner output exceeded that of all the other provinces of Canada combined by 5,758,000 dollars ■ or 27 per cent.” -British Columbia’s prominence in fisheries is due to her salmon and halibut fisheries, though she produces twenty-three other species of food fish. In 1924 her salmon catch produced 13,027,250 dollars, or 61 per cent, of her total. The halibut landings totalled 5,427,500 dollars. The salmon catch of 1925 produced 21,257,500 dollars, or 47.6 per containing 481 bof dressed fish. The Stack consisted of the five species of ’acific salmon that frequent her waters.' Fishing and packing Is closely regulated by both the Provincial and the Dominion Governments,