FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 73, NO. 4 



The Astoria Yacht Club boat launching ramp 

 (Figure 1) was chosen as the release site in Youngs 

 Bay. It provided easy access and no spawning 

 gravel or stream mouths occurred near the site. 

 We hoped that returning adult coho salmon would 

 mill around the bay in search of a stream. This 

 would provide ample opportunity for commercial 

 fishermen to harvest the fish. 



All releases were made at dusk to reduce preda- 

 tion by gulls, grebes, ducks, and resident fish. The 

 smolts dispersed rapidly upon release, most of 

 them swimming toward deeper water. Movements 

 could be seen as far as 100 m from shore shortly 

 after releases. Only one instance of predation by 

 birds was observed, and initial transportation 

 losses were negligible. All the fish appeared health 

 and active upon release. 



The RV-marked coho salmon were released 

 directly from the Little White Salmon Hatchery 

 rearing ponds into the Little White Salmon River 

 on the evening of 12 May 1970. A total of 100,367 

 fish weighing 2,504 kg (5,520 pounds) or 40.1 

 fish/kg (18.2/pound) were liberated. The RV- 

 marked group was released 2 wk later than the 

 Youngs Bay group. The reason for this difference 

 in release dates is unknown. 



Sampling 



In the fall of 1970, we sampled the Youngs Bay 

 commercial fishery for marked 2-yr-old coho salm- 

 on. The sampling was concentrated at The New 

 England Fish Company. A fish buyer, Lawrence 

 Peterson, was contracted by New England Fish 

 Company to purchase fish from Youngs Bay com- 

 mercial fishermen and deliver them to the 

 processing plant. We also did some sampling of the 

 Youngs and Klaskanine rivers sport fisheries. The 

 Columbia River commercial fishery was sampled 

 by the Fish Commission of Oregon. The California 

 ocean fisheries were not sampled for single fin 

 marks and the British Columbia and Alaska ocean 

 fisheries and Columbia River sport fisheries were 

 not sampled for marked fish. 



Returns to hatcheries near Youngs Bay were 

 examined for stray LV- or RV-marked coho salm- 

 on. The major effort was concentrated at the 

 Klaskanine Salmon Hatchery since it is the only 

 hatchery on a tributary of Youngs Bay. Returns to 

 Big Creek Salmon Hatchery on Big Creek near 

 Knappa, Oreg., the Elokomin Salmon Hatchery on 

 the Elochomin River near Cathlamet, Wash., and 

 the Grays River Salmon Hatchery on the Grays 



River near Grays River, Wash., were examined for 

 LV- and RV-marked coho (Figure 1). The coho 

 returning to Little White Salmon National Fish 

 Hatchery were also checked for marks. 



The sampling in the fall of 1971 was similar to 

 that done in 1970. The only differences being that 

 the sampling effort was concentrated at Barbey 

 Packing Corporation in Astoria, and there was no 

 sampling of the Youngs and Klaskanine River 

 sport fisheries. 



RESULTS 



1970 Sampling Season 



The Youngs Bay gill-net season began on 13 

 September 1970 and ended on 31 October 1970, a 

 total season of 49 days. Sampling for marked 

 1968-brood coho jack salmon at the New England 

 Fish Company took place on 13 of the 49 days (jack 

 salmon are predominately males that mature early 

 and that on the average are considerably smaller 

 than the normal adult fish). The entire catch of 

 coho jacks was examined on the days sampled. The 

 total catch of jacks was estimated at 2,300 in the 

 Youngs Bay fishery in 1970.' Of these, 952 were 

 examined for marks for a 41.4% sample. Only two 

 LV-marked and no RV-marked coho were found. 

 This is to be expected since most fishermen use 

 nets of 15.9-cm (6V4-inch) stretched mesh size for 

 adult coho because of the higher price paid for 

 adults. Table 1 shows the days sampled, the total 

 weight and number of coho examined by day, and 

 the marks found. 



The Klaskanine River sport fishery was sampled 

 on 23, 24, 25, 26, and 30 September. No marks were 

 found on 18 coho jacks examined. 



The Fish Commission of Oregon sampled the 

 Columbia River commercial fishery in 1970. Only 

 two marked coho jacks were found, one LV and one 

 RV. This was again due to the use of 15.9-cm or 

 larger mesh size gill nets for adult chinook and 

 coho. 



There was no concentrated sampling effort for 

 the LV- and RV-marked coho salmon in the 

 Columbia River sport fishery or the California, 

 British Columbia, or Alaska ocean commercial and 

 sport fisheries. Also, duplication of these marks in 

 the ocean fisheries precluded their assignment to 

 specific experiments. Table 2 lists the number of 



James L. Galhreath. Fish Comm. Manage. Res. Hdqrs., 

 Clackamas, Oreg. (Pers. commun.). 



720 



