STATISTICAL REVIEW OF THE ALASKA SALMON FISHERIES. 

 PART I: BRISTOL BAY AND THE ALASKA PENINSULA 



By 

 WILLIS H. RICH, Ph. D., Chief Investigator, Salmon Fisheries 



and 

 EDWARD M. BALL, Assistant, Alaska Service 



Introduction 



Federal fishery laws and regulations 

 affecting the salmon fisheries in 



Alaska 



Bristol Bay 



INTRODUCTION 



The exploitation of the Alaska salmon fishery resources may be said to have 

 begun in 1878, 11 years after the purchase of the Territory from Russia, when the 

 first cannery was established at lOawak, on Prince of Wales Island. Previously 

 there had been some salting of salmon by both Americans and Russians and, of 

 course, the salmon had formed one of the important food supplies for the natives 

 from prehistoric times. Previous to the spectacular development of the canning 

 industry, however, the inroads made on this natural resource must have been 

 inconsequential. For the first few years after the establishment of the first cannery 

 there was no great production of canned salmon, but about 1885 or 1886 the de- 

 velopment started, which, with minor fluctuations, increased steadily, culminating 

 in 1918 with a total pack of 6,605,835 cases, valued at $51,041,949. Few of the 

 world's fishery resources exceed this one in productivity and value, and none has shown 

 such remarkable growth in little more than 30 years. With 1918, however, the 

 general upward trend ceased, and production dropped over 2,000,000 cases in 1919 and 

 again in 1921 . In the latter year the total pack was only a little over 2,500,000 cases, 

 the lowest since 1910. It rose gradually again to a new peak of 6,652,882 cases, 

 valued at $46,080,004, in 1926, only to fall disastrously once more in 1927. This 

 brief history of the Alaska salmon fishery is shown graphically in Figure 2. 



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