VAN CLEVE and BEVAN: REPLY TO ROUNSEFELLS COMMENTS 



ever, it is useless to argue about the relative 

 numbers of sockeye that spawn in the Karluk 

 River since the weir was moved to its present 

 location in 1945. As noted in our paper this 

 reduced the productivity of the Karluk runs to 

 a new low level (see our Figure 2) and altered 

 the relative numbers of the different races in 

 the system. The weir must have had an espe- 

 cially adverse effect on the Karluk River 

 spawners so that the j)roportion of 10% of 

 the total run established by the Auke Bay 

 Fisheries Laboratory staff after 1950 must 

 have been far below the original proportion. 



Shuman's (1950) estimate of high mortality 

 of sockeye salmon due to Kodiak bears intro- 

 duced by Rounsefell could have been associated 

 with the large population of Kodiak bears 

 resulting from lack of hunting during World 

 War II. With more intensive hunting since 

 then it is probable that predation is not as 

 heavy as Shuman observed. We agree that this 

 is a factor that should be studied. 



It is probable if the sockeye salmon runs 

 could be rebuilt in the Karluk system that 

 natural cycles would again appear. However, 

 artificial manipulation of the size of the sockeye 

 salmon runs as Rounsefell (1958) recommends 

 to restore the "cyclical abundance." which was 

 characteristic of the period after 1921, should 

 not be attempted before restoration of their 

 abundance has been accomplished since they 

 seem already to have been overburdened with 

 manipulation and experimentation. 



Testing the conclusions reached in our paper 

 would be the height of simplicity: merely 

 remove the weir from the upper Karluk River 

 (as well as from all the other streams in the 

 Karluk watershed) and maintain the present 

 fishing intensity on the Karluk sockeye salmon. 

 The cost would be minimal, especially if the 

 biological work on the Karluk runs were re- 

 stricted to observation of the adults and young 

 from the stream banks and lake shore. Modern 

 acoustical gear could be used on the lake to 

 estimate numbers of both adults and young 

 without harming them and stream counts of 

 spawners would serve as a basis for comparison 



with past years. Concern with "complete 

 counts" such as is theoretically obtained from 

 the weir is fallacious because the weir counts 

 do not include sockeye that remain in the Karluk 

 River below it and as we have indicated the 

 weir must have a major adverse effect on both 

 young and adults. 



LITERATURE CITED 



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



1955. Karluk Lake observations, 1954. Univ. Wash.. 

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

 Brannon, E. L. 



1967. Genetic control of migrating behavior of newly 

 emerged sockeye salmon fry. Int. Pac. Salmon 

 Fish. Comm. Prog. Rep. 16, 3 1 p. 

 1972. Mechanisms controlling migration of sockeye 

 salmon fry. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. Washington. Seattle. 

 156 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. 

 Hartman, W. L., and R. F. Raleigh. 



1964. Tributary homing of sockeye salmon at 

 Brooks and Karluk Lakes, Alaska. J. Fish. Res. 

 Board Can. 21:485-504. 

 Raleigh, R. F. 



1967. Genetic control in the lakeward migrations 

 of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus iwrku) fry. 

 J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 24:2613-2622. 

 Rounsefell, G. A. 



1958. Factors causing decline in sockeye salmon of 

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

 Fish. Bull. 58:83-169. 

 Shuman, 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. 



1950. Some salmon research problems in Alaska. 

 Natl. Res. Counc, Alaska Sci. Conf., Sect. Zool., 

 Nov. 9- 11. 1950, Wash., D.C. (Mimeo.). 39 p. 



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. 



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