Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 521 



in fact, the average for the last four-year period (145,000 pounds) was more than 

 twice that for the first four-year period (67,320 pounds). Andrews and Lear have 

 pointed out, however, that the trend of production may not represent a corresponding 

 trend in the numbers of fish, since the intensity of the fishery there depends on whether 

 it is the more profitable to fish for cod or Arctic Charr (2: 845). 



However this may be, the intensive exploitation of a more or less isolated stock 

 has resulted in unmistakable depletion in two well-documented cases: in Nachvak Bay, 

 northern Labrador, where the catch made by the same schooner decreased from 79,200 

 pounds during July-August of 1948 to 1 1,000 in 1950, when the project was abandoned 

 (2: 845); and in western Greenland, where the catch at a certain cannery at Godt- 

 haab fell from 24,955 pounds in 19 15 to 12,540 in 191 7, when the cannery was 

 closed (jp: 72). 



Although Arctic Charr may seem almost unbelievably plentiful when crowded to- 

 gether off the mouth of some stream, and while they may in fact be plentiful enough 

 locally to withstand a moderate amount of fishing, it appears that the populations that 

 are more or less isolated geographically cannot long withstand intense exploitation. 

 "Even on the normal Eskimo scale of fishing, streams may become seriously depleted 

 and require a rest for some years before their numbers are restored" (Dunbar and 

 Hildebrand, 16: 100). Dunbar has reached this same conclusion for those of Frobisher 

 Bay, where, fortunately for the fish, many of the "charr streams were not touched at 

 all by the Eskimo" (J5: 178-190). 



The catch of Arctic Charr is made chiefly in gill nets or in stake nets, close to 

 the land in water only a few feet deep, and during the months when they are in the sea 

 (p. 5 1 6). Some are also caught through the ice in winter while they are in fresh water, 

 at least in the Hudson Bay region. 



The sea-running Arctic Charr have not yet attracted the attention of anglers In 

 general, nor are they likely to do so unless the Arctic-subarctic regions become more 

 easily accessible; but visitors to the airfield at Frobisher Bay report having great sport 

 with them there (5: 33; 75 : 4). 



General Range. The alpinus species complex (freshwater and sea-running popula- 

 tions combined) is circumpolar and widespread in Arctic-subarctic regions, with iso- 

 lated (doubtless relict) populations in some cold lakes far south of the boundary of 

 their general range. Their area of more or less continuous occurrence in America 

 embraces Arctic Canada and Arctic Alaska, and the Arctic Archipelago at least as far 

 northward as Discovery Harbor, Grinnell Land, 82°34'N (jo: 294, 295), which is 

 the northernmost locality whence any salmonid has been reported. S. alpinus range 

 southward along the Atlantic coast to the northern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 to eastern Newfoundland, and to both coasts of northern Hudson Bay; and along 

 the Pacific coast to northern California. There are isolated populations also in many 

 of the deep, cold lakes of Quebec, northern Maine, northern New Hampshire, and 

 northern Vermont. 



Arctic Charr occur around Greenland from the north coast down the west coast 



