PACIFIC SALMON IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS^ 



Presented by 



William F. Royce 



Director, Fisheries Research Institute 



University of Washington 



Seattle, Washington 



Intensive research in the past several years has shown 

 that the five species of Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus) 

 and steelhead trout {Salmo gairdneri ) travel tremendous 

 distances in their ocean migrations. American salmon travel 

 so far west, and Asian salmon so far east, that stocks from 

 both continents are found mixed throughout a large part of the 

 central North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. Some king or 

 Chinook salmon {0. t skawytscka) born in the gravels of the 

 Salmon River in the State of Idaho range at least as far as 

 the central Aleutian Islands before maturing and returning 

 again 2,500 miles to ascend the Columbia River enroute 

 home. Occasional red or sockeye salmon {0. nerka) from 

 lakes in British Columbia swim westward at least to 177° E. 

 longitude, well over halfway to Asia, in their ocean travels. 

 Chum salmon (0. keta) from southeastern Alaska naay make 

 a round trip of 3,500 miles to the central Aleutians in their 

 quest for food at sea, Steelhead trout from rivers of the 

 State of Washington and Oregon also may wander at least to 

 the central Aleutians in their seaward journeys. 



Likewise chum salmon and pink salmon (0. gorhuscha) 

 from many Asian spawning areas are found feeding along the 

 Aleutian chain as far eastward as the Alaska Peninsula, a 

 distance of 1,000 to 1,500 miles from their nated streams. 

 Ch\ims in the rich ocean feeding areas at the base of the 

 Alaska Peninsula often are a mixture originating from such 

 diverse spawning grounds as the Anadyr River in the Siberian 

 Arctic, various rivers tributary to the Sea of Okhotsk, 

 streams on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, and, as already 

 mentioned, streams in many parts of Alaska, Silver or coho 

 salmon (0. kisutch) from east Kamchatka range seaward to the 

 central Aleutians (175° W.) a distance ofatleast 1,000 miles. 



High-seas salmon tagging has been conducted since 1955 

 by the Fisheries Research Institute of the College of Fish- 

 eries of the University of Washington under contract to the 

 United States Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Tagging is 

 also being done on a smaller scale by the Canadian and 

 Japanese sections of the Commission, and the three programs 

 have been integrated as far as practicable. 



Tagging salmon on the high seas has proved much more dif- 

 ficult than tagging in coastal areas. Large specially -designed 



* Prepared by Allan C. Hartt, Fishery Research Institute, University of Washington for 

 presentation at the North American Wildlife Conference. Dallas, Texas. March 7-9. 1960. 



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