76 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OP FISHERIES 



NELSON LAGOON 



Salmon fishing in Nelson Lagoon always has been a closely restricted one con- 

 ducted almost entirely with traps and drawing solely upon the run of fish entering 

 Nelson River to spawn. The catch of species other than red salmon never has been of 

 great importance, but the catch of reds has been remarkably large considering the 

 size of the stream. The data are presented in Table 7 and Figure 12. 



The catch of red salmon shows a faii-ly steady rise from the early years of the 

 fishery to a maximum in 1915 and 191G. The catch for the next three years was 



Fig. 12. — Catch of salmon at Nelson Lagoon 



relatively poor, but it rose again in 1920 and 1921. Since that time the catch has 

 dropped off consistently, that of 1927 being the poorest on record. These records of 

 the total catch show quite clearly the usual story of excessive exploitation, accompa- 

 nied by large catches and followed by wide fluctuations and an ultimate decrease 

 due to depletion. In this case depletion appears to have been more rapid and more 

 severe than in Bristol Bay, and in this respect the situation resembles that at Port 

 Moller. A five-year cycle is indicated clearly by the peaks in 1915 and 1916 and 

 1920 and 1921, and the fact that no maximum appeared in 1925 and 1926 is further 

 indication of the serious extent of the depletion. We have mentioned above the 



