sumed that the sockeye and coho salmons and the 

 steelhead tagged south of Kodiak Island had em- 

 barked as juveniles on May 1, then they each 

 covered about 1,400 miles (2,593 km.), in about 4 

 months preceding tagging, at an average rate of 

 11.6 miles (21.5 km.) per day. The May 1 embar- 

 kation date is probably correct for the steelhead 

 trout ; it was fin-clipped and released in the Alsea 

 River, Oregon, sometime in April 1958. The esti- 

 mated rates of travel of the latter three juveniles 

 are probably more accurate than the estimated rate 

 of travel of the single pink salmon, so that 10 miles 

 (18.5 km.) per day might be a good working esti- 

 mate of rate of travel during the initial stage of 

 their ocean migrations. 



AUTUMN AND WINTER MIGRATIONS 



"We have much less data on the autumn and 

 winter migrations, but the general pattern can be 

 deduced from the substantial data on the location 

 of juveniles in late summer and of maturing fish in 

 early spring. By late September, most pink salmon 

 have entered the sea, but substantial numbei-s still 

 are along the coast from southeastern Alaska to 

 Kodiak Island; ju\-enile migration nuist continue, 

 therefore, into October and November. Neave 

 (1964) reported 163 juvenile pink salmon in a 

 trawl catch in Dixon Entrance (lat. 54° N.) on 

 November 5, 1963. After the end of September, the 

 next period for which there are data is Januaiy- 

 February, when longlines and gill nets have been 

 fished in recent years, although somewhat sparsely, 

 thi-oughout much of the Gulf of Alaska.^ Results 

 in 1964 indicated few. if any, pink salmon in the 

 northern Gulf but a wide dispersion in the south- 

 ern Gulf between lat. 45° and 51° N. and from 

 about long. 133° to 156° W. (fig. 4). At this stage 

 they average 30 cm. long (French, 1966; Inter- 

 national North Pacific Fisheries Commission, 

 Annual Report, 1964: 30). 



Thus, between midautumn and midwinter, the 

 young pink salmon must leave the coastal l)elt 

 along the northern Gulf and migrate well to the 

 south, where they are scattered widely in the open 

 sea. The points at which they leave the coastal belt 

 are unknown. They probably do not follow the 

 Alaskan Stream very far to the west, however, 



= For convenience, (iiiXf of Alaska .is used herein refers to all 

 salmon waters east of long. 165° W., thus extending to about lat. 

 40° X.. in coiU'ormanco witli tln^ tri'iicral oceanic regions dcscrihiHl 

 by Manzer et al. (1965). 



Figure 4. — Catch (if pink salmon per lougline set during 

 winter of 1964. Canadian and United States operations 

 January 7 to February (.30 set.-;, each using 5 to 3.5 

 skates — one skate=49 hooks). 



because immature pink salmon have never been 

 taken in the extensive seining in the summer and 

 autumn south of the eastern Aleutian Islands. 

 Furthennore, extensive tagging of mature pink 

 salmon in spring and summer south of the Aleu- 

 tians has yielded returns only from East Kam- 

 chatka and western Alaska; none were returned 

 from southeastern Alaska or British Columbia nor 

 from any other Gulf coastal areas. Thus, the stocks 

 in question probably leave the coastal belt east of 

 long. 160° W. Such a southward migration would 

 place them in the eastward-flowing Subarctic Cur- 

 rent, on a counterclockwise route back toward 

 their embarkation points (fig. 1). The distance 

 from the northern Gulf to the center of their win- 

 ter distribution is at least 1,000 miles (1,852 km.), 

 which, if covered in 90 days, would indicate a 

 minimum rate of travel of 10 miles (18.5 km.) per 

 day. 



SPRING-SUMMER HOMING MIGRATIONS 



The ocean migrations of the maturing pink 

 salmon during their last spring and summer at sea 

 are well documented by a numlier of years of long- 

 line and purse seine sampling throughout the Gulf 

 from late March through mid- August (Neave, 

 1964; International North Pacific Fisheries Com- 

 mission Annual Reports, 1961-65). In April pink 

 salmon of the southeastern Alaska-British Colum- 

 bia stocks are located mainly in the southeastern 

 part of the Gulf east of long. 150° W. and between 

 lat. 43° and 50° N. and are mixed with stocks from 

 Prince William Sound, Kodiak Island, Cook In- 

 let, and the Alaska Peninsula. The British Colum- 



MODELS OF OCEANIC MIGRATIONS OF PACIFIC SALMON 



445 



