the returns between tagging locations in the West 

 Coast District. Tagging each year from the traps 

 in the inner section of the district at Point Des- 

 conocida and McLeod Bay and all experiments at 

 Ruth Bay in 1957 and Tranquil Point in 1958 re- 

 vealed insignificant Canadian returns of both pink 

 and red salmon. Most tags were recovered in 

 the waters surrounding Prince of Wales Island, 

 and as the season progressed these tags tended 

 to be more and more associated with spawning 

 grounds in the vicinity of the tagging locations. 

 Because of this factor, and because there was a 

 difference between the two years in the propor- 

 tion of the total tagging accomplished in the outer 

 and inner sections, the results obtained in the 

 two sections should be considered independently. 

 This breakdown is given in table 1. 



Seasonal variations have been noted in the 

 percentage of recovery of pink salmon in the sev- 

 eral recovery districts from the tagging experi- 

 ments at Noyes Island in 1957 (figure 2). Pink 

 salmon destined for Canadian and mainland areas 

 of southeastern Alaska were most abundant in the 

 tagging areas during late July and early August. 

 Salmon tagged in mid -August consisted primarily 

 of Clarence Strait stock, while late August fish 

 were recovered from the fishery and spawning 

 grounds of the west coast of Prince of Wales Is- 

 land. 



The routes taken by a considerable number 

 of the pink salmon, tagged at Noyes and Baker 

 Islands in July and early August of both years , 

 appeared to be southward. These were outside 

 the other sections of the west coast fishery and 

 via Dixon Entrance to Clarence Strait and main- 

 land areas north and south of the International 

 Border. Evidence of northward movement into 

 Sumner Strait was almost completely lacking in 

 1957 but was apparent for a small proportion of 

 the salmon tagged in 1958. 



In late August most pinksalmon fromNoyes 

 Island moved directly inshore to the fishery of 

 the inner waters of the West Coast District and 

 adjacent spawning grounds. All waters in south- 

 eastern Alaska, east of Clarence Strait, were 

 closed to fishing after mid-August, and this may 

 have had some effect upon the pattern of returns 

 at this time of the season. 



Red salmon were important in the catches 

 at Noyes Island during July and early August and 



migration patterns in most respects resembled 

 those of the early pink salmon mentioned previ- 

 ously. Recoveries came principally from south- 

 ern Clarence Strait and the Skeena area in both 

 years. A small part (5 fish or 1 percent of the 

 salmon tagged) of the red salmon returns in 1957 

 came from Johnstone Strait, but no returns were 

 reported from there in 1958 although three times 

 as many red salmon were tagged at Noyes Island 

 as in 1957. 



During both years, the movement of pink 

 salmon tagged at Ruth and McLeod Bays in the 

 southern part of the West Coast District was gen- 

 erally northward along the east and west coasts 

 of Prince of Wales Island. Returns from the pink 

 salmon tagged at Point Desconocida, Heceta Is- 

 land, in both years and from Tranquil Point in 

 1958 came almost entirely from the fishery and 

 streams along the northwest coast of Prince of 

 Wales Island adjacent to Klawak Inlet. 



Summary 



This is the initial report on this project, 

 and the conclusions drawn at this time are only 

 preliminary. In summarizing the results in re- 

 gard to the presence of salmon bound for Canadian 

 fishing waters, the following points are evident: 



1. The American fishery recovered about 2j 

 times as many pink salmon tags as the Canadian 

 fishery in 1957; 16 times as many in 1958. 



2. The American fishery recovered a slightly 

 larger number of red salmon tags than did the 

 Canadian fishery in 1957; more than 4 times as 

 many in 1958. 



3. Returns of both pink and red salmon from 

 Canadian fishery and spawning grounds were con- 

 fined almost exclusively to fish tagged at Noyes 

 and Baker Islands in both years. 



4. More Canadian returns came from salmon 

 tagged during late July and early August of 1957 

 than from those tagged during mid and late August 

 of 1957. 



5. It is necessary to make a thorough analysis 

 of the data to obtain estimates of the number of 

 fish bound for Canada from fishing waters along 

 the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. 



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