Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 219, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1911 — Bass Killing Off Salmon [ARTICLE]

Bass Killing Off Salmon

Fish imported Into Pacific Ocean Waters Threaten Great Canning Industry—Feast on >^ung. Seattle, Wash. —Men engaged in the salmon industry in this state and Oregon are vastly excited over the discovery that their livelihood is threatened by the ravages of bass. There is a demand that immediate measures.be taken to exterminate the latter fish. It was only a few years ago when in response to the agitation of sportsmen and others who wanted more var riety in fish, bass fry were imported In large quantities and were planted in various inland waters and the rivers. It appears that they have multiplied at an astonishing rate and at the beginning of the season they were reported to be very plentiful. Recently the salmon men made the discovery that has dismayed them. The bass have penetrated far up the Columbia river and its tributaries and have been feasting on young salmon. John M. Crawford, superintendent of the fish hatcheries of Washington

state, tells of the ravages he has observed. The hatcheries he conducts are of great Importance to the industry. They were started because It was discovered that the trout played havoc with the young salmon. In big ponds the fry are hatched and millions of salmon are guarded until they are about three inches long, a size sufficient to permit them to escape the trout. This plan has prdved effective for years. “We can rear the salmon large enough to get away from *theUrout," says Mr. Crawford, “but not the bass. When you think that a bass can eat a salmon four Inches long or even larger you can see how utterly impossible it is to keep the fish In the ponds until they are of sufficient size 'to care for themselves against the new enemy without going to huge expense. We raise them until they are three inches long and then turn them into the Kalama river, from which they make their way down to the Columbia. We have found that the bass are lying in wajt for them and gobbling them as they appear.” He advocates the prohibition by law under heavy penalties of any further planting of bass in the waters of the state, an open season for this fish all the year round and stringent measures to destroy them. Unless something is done he thinks it will be only a few years before the salmon industry will be seriously crippled. He would also bar pickerel, pike and perch.