TRAVELLING FISH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23196, 16 November 1938, Page 12

TRAVELLING FISH

SALMON ESCALATORS THE COLUMBIA RIVER REMARKABLE ASCENT MADE [from cub OWN correspondent] ' VANCOUVER, Oct. 26 Over half a million salmon have, to date, during the current "run," accepted man's invitation to use elevators, or escalators, in ascending the Columbia River, on their return, after four years spent in the Pacific, to their spawning grounds at the source of the river, in British Columbia. They hdve travelled 1400 miles through Oregon and Washington, to respond to nature's last call on them. In doing so, they have confounded critics, who declared! that the new hydro-electric project at Bonneville, Quebec, would prevent their upstream movement. Their action brought realisation to the dream ofthe Director of the United States Bureau of Reclamation, Sir. Elwood Mead, formerly Director of the Department of Rivers and Water Supply at Melbourne. Elaborate Ladders; Welcomed The river was closed to commercial fishing last month, to facilitate the passage of the returning hordes. They welcomed the elaborate fish ladders, which were a decided improvement on the roaring Cascade Rapids, now buried under seventy feet of water. They had no difficulty in finding their way up the man-made escalators, and readily entered the ladders, attracted by the discharge of foaming waters. None of the fish was injured in their journey up the concrete stairway. Sportsmen reported that fish caught in the lake above the dam had much firmer flesh. Both the salmon and the sporting steelhead trout showed less signs of tiredness than fish that formerly fought their way up the rapids of the Cascades. Indians, fishing in the rushing torrent at Celilo Falls, certi« fied that Bonneville Dum has made life easy for the salmon. Attraction for Tourists Thousands of tourists from all part# went to Bonneville, ito see the huge power plant. Thousands more gathered fast summer, to -see the first ocean freighter go through the highest lock in the world, and steam past a mountain range. But to-day, the cnief interest is the fishway. Tourists come from every State. For hours they lined the railways to watch the salmon climb the 1200 feet of steps built to escort them over the dam. In addition to salmon, fighting steelhead, numbering 40,000, were tallied in the fishway. Controlled water depth along the ladder permits the fish to swim upward without even breaking water. The salmon is a fighter in every ounce of his graceful body. He can force his way upstream through rapids and over falls. Every spring and summer, the adult fish fight their way up to the gravel-bedded streams on tne slopes of the Selkirk Mountains, in Canada. The parent fish die after spawning. The young fish—-fingerlings—after spending from several months to a year in fresh water, go out to the Pacific, and return by the identical route by which they travelled downstream, when they reach a weight of twenty to thirty pounds.