FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71, NO. 3 



generally do not drift longer than 3 h at a time, 

 our inshore observations were limited to a 

 maximum of 3 h. These inshore observations 

 provided a basis of comparison with loss 

 rates determined on the high seas. 



Commercial salmon gill nets used in Puget 

 Sound were 549 m long and about 15 m deep. 

 Our observations covered the entire string. 

 Mesh sizes used were 130 mm and 143 mm. 



Observations were conducted during eight 

 sets (Table 16). Fifty-nine fish (primarily 

 sockeye and pink salmon) were marked. No 

 dropouts were recorded for periods up to 3 h. 

 Although the obsei-vations were limited, it 

 appears that loss of salmon from gill nets of 

 130- and 143-mm mesh is not a serious prob- 

 lem in the commercial fishery of Puget Sound. 



Similar conclusions were reached by the 

 Washington State Department of Fisheries after 

 studies on dropouts in Puget Sound in 1968 and 

 1969.'^ During 2 yr of experiments, 245 salmon 



''Jewel, E. D. 1970. Gill net dropout study. Wash. 

 Dep. Fish., Prog. AFC-14, 5 p. [Unpubl. Rep.] 



Table 16. — Numbers of salmon marked and observed in 

 gill nets (130- and 143-mm mesh) over varying periods of 

 time, Puget Sound, Wash., August 1967. 



' Number of possible observations for the time period; different 

 from the number marked because some net drifts were of short 

 duration and observations were not made over the entire period. 

 Dash ( — ) indicates no observation. 



were observed or marked in commercial type 

 gill nets; only 3 of these (1.2%) were dropouts. 

 In a special experiment involving sockeye sal- 

 mon native to Lake Washington (near Seattle, 

 Wash.), 38 fish were marked (located by obser- 

 vation in the nets), and 11 (29%) had dropped 

 out by the time the gear was hauled. In this 

 experiment, however, the gill nets used were 

 121 to 140 mm in mesh size and were con- 

 sidered too large for the salmon which 

 averaged less than 5 lb. per fish. 



These studies in Puget Sound, in a gill net 

 fishery generally conducted in comparatively 

 calm and protected waters, show that dropouts 

 were much reduced from dropout rates on the 

 open seas. They further indicate that dropouts 

 from gill nets may be mainly related to open- 

 seas fishing. 



SALMON FALLOUTS FROM 

 GILL NETS DURING HAUL 



In the process of hauling gill nets aboard 

 fishing vessels during high-seas salmon fishing, 

 salmon are frequently observed falling from 

 the nets before they can be taken aboard. These 

 fish have been termed fallouts to distinquish 

 them from the dropouts or those salmon that 

 become disentangled from the gill nets during 

 fishing. We have examined the catch records of 

 research vessels from 1965 to 1970 to deter- 

 mine the number of fallouts by season of fish- 

 ing, size of vessel, and mesh size. 



The total number of fallouts during hauling 

 of gear amounted to about 1.4% of the total 

 number of salmon landed (Table 17). The 

 greatest number of fallouts occurred on the RV 

 Miller Freeman, the vessel having the highest 

 lift of the nets from the water surface to the net 

 roller where the nets are brought aboard the 

 vessel; the least number occurred on the 

 chartered vessels Paragon and St. Michael, 

 vessels with the shortest lift distance between 

 the water and roller. The fallouts from the 

 George B. Kelez, with an intermediate distance 

 from water to roller, were intermediate be- 

 tween those of the smaller a^d larger vessels. 



Only one vessel, the Ge^ ge B. Kelez, fished 

 over the four seasons. Results of fallout tabula- 

 tions indicated relatively little difference by 



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