ROUNSEFELL: COMMENTS ON DECLINE OF KARLUK SALMON RUNS 



... by restoring insofar as practicable the former 

 cyclic character of the runs in order to lessen competi- 

 tion between the older young and fry, and perhaps 

 give some measure of natural control of predators. 

 Because of the present low state of the runs this should 

 be accomplished by providing a higher proportion of 

 spawners on big runs rather than by decreasing the 

 proportion on smaller runs 



This recommendation was concurred in by 

 Thompson, Bevan (junior author of the present 

 paper), and Thorsteinson (1954) in which they 

 state. 



The assumption is made, under this quota system, 

 that by allowing a larger escapement in poor years, these 

 years can be built up to a level of good years. This is 

 probably in error. Poor cycle years are now known to 

 be due to natural conditions which limit production 

 and attempts to rebuild these poor years in Bristol 

 Bay and elsewhere by radical restrictions have failed 

 .... The cycles in the Karluk and elsewhere seem to 

 have broken down, possibly due to efforts to increase 

 escapement ratios in poor years, thus probably destroy- 

 ing natural conditions favorable to the big-cycle years. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Barnaby, J. T. 



1944. Fluctuations in abundance of red salmon. 



Oncorhyncluis neiku (Walbaum). of the Karluk 



River. Alaska. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 



50:237-295. 

 Bevan, D. E. 



1957. Stream surveys in the Kodiak Island area, 



1956. Univ. Wash., Fish. Res. Inst., Circ. 89, 41 p. 

 Bevan, D. E., and C. E. Walker. 



1955. Karluk Lake observations, 1954. Univ. 



Wash., Fish. Res. Inst., Circ. 78, 47 p. 



BuRGNER, R. L., C. J. DiCosTANZO, R. J. Ellis, G. Y. 

 Harry, Jr.. W. L. Hartman, O. E. Kerns. Jr.. O. A. 

 Mathisen, and W. F. Royce. 



1969. Biological studies and estimates of optimum 

 escapements of sockeye salmon in the major river 

 systems in southwestern Alaska. U.S. Fish Wildl. 

 Serv., Fish. Bull. 67:405-459. 

 Chamberlain, F. M. 



1907. Some observations on salmon and trout m 

 Alaska. Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish 1906. Doc. 627, 

 112 p. 

 Davidson, F. A., and O. E. Shostrom. 



1936. Physical and chemical changes in the pink 

 salmon during the spawning migration. [U.S.] 

 Bur. Fish., Invest. Rep. 33. 37 p. 

 Gilbert, C. H., and W. H. Rich. 



1927. Investigations concerning the red-salmon runs 

 to the Karluk River. Alaska. Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish. 

 43(2): 1-69. (Doc. 1021.) 

 Moser, J. F. 



1901. Alaska salmon investigations in 1900 and 1901. 

 Bull. U.S. Fish Comm. 21: 173-398. 



RoUNSEFELL, G. A. 



1949. Methods of estimating total runs and escape- 

 ments of salmon. Biometrics 5: 1 15-126. 



1957. Fecundity of North American Salmonidae. 

 U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 57:45 1-468. 



1958. Factors causing decline in sockeye salmon of 

 Karluk River, Alaska. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., 

 Fish. Bull. 58:83-169. 



Shaman, R. F. 



1950. Bear depredations on red salmon spawning 

 populations in the Karluk River system, 1947. J. 

 Wildl. Manage. 14:1-9. 



Thompson, W. F. 



1951. An outline for salmon research in Alaska. 

 Univ. Wash., Fish. Res. Inst., Circ. 18, 49 p. 



Thompson, W. F., and D. E. Bevan. 



1954. A proposal for experimental regulation of the 

 Karluk fishery. Univ. Wash., Fish. Res. Inst., 

 Circ. 72, 5 p. 

 Thompson, W. F., D. E. Bevan. and F. V. Thorsteinson. 

 1954. The present regulatory quota system for Kar- 

 luk and Chignik. Univ. Wash., Fish. Res. Inst., 

 Circ. 71, 9 p. 



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