enough to equal the fry production from the 

 much larger spawning of 1956. Consequently, 

 the total production of fry in this area was 

 somewhat reduced from that of the previous 

 year. 



The second method of predicting pink 

 salmon abundance, an annual enumeration of 

 fingerling from commercial salmon traps, was 

 conducted for the fourth consecutive year. 

 Periodic visits were made to the various 

 traps to gather data on fingerling abundance 

 throughout the fishing season. Returns of 

 the numbers of fingerling observed in most 

 areas in Southeastern Alaska are above those 

 of 1957 in all but the Eastern District. 

 However, returns in many areas were below 

 the levels determined in 1955 and 1956. 

 The greatest abundcUice was observed within 

 Clarence Strait, the lowest within Icy 

 Strait. 



In view of the wide divergence this 

 year from the expected adult return, which 

 was based on the low abundance of finger- 

 lings in 1957, the reliability of the trap 

 enumeration method of predicting is ques- 

 tionable. The 1955 and 1956 fingerling 

 abundance indices provided quite accurate 

 predictions of the adult returns of the 

 parent cycles. If this method were truly 

 indicative, the adult returns in 1958 would 

 have produced a salmon pack of fewer thcui 

 300,000 cases. The actual pack was slightly 

 more thjui 700,000 cases. Therefore, a pre- 

 diction of adult returns for 1959, based on 

 «in average of 718 fingerlings per observa- 

 tion, may not be reliable. Yet the number 

 of fingerling salmon was definitely greater 

 than last summer, indicating the possibility 

 of a greater adult return than 1958. 



Of the two methods discussed, fry 

 abundance estimation appears at present to 

 be the more reliable means of predicting 

 adult returns of pink salmon, but it has 

 not been thoroughly tested, as only one 

 cycle is available for analysis. The fry 

 production in the sample streams and the 

 apparently lower production in the smaller 

 streams generally indicate an adult return 

 in 1959 similar to, or slightly lower than, 

 1958. Although the spawning escapement was 

 lower in 1957 than 1956, the stream survival 

 of the young was apparently very favorable. 

 This may compensate for the considerable 

 difference in the escapement of adult salmon 

 in 1956 and 1957 and provide a yield compar- 

 able to that of the past summer. 



Studies of environment eil factors that 

 affect the survival of pink salmon were 

 continued at Little Port Wsilter. Emphasis 

 was on the mejisurement of the actual numbers 

 of fry produced by pairs of adults. The 

 technique consists of confining adults in 

 specially designed pens where they are 

 allowed to spawn. The fry are counted after 

 they emerge from the gravel. The survival 

 of the progeny of each pair of adults has 

 been highly variable, ranging from to 40 

 percent. Natural survival of pink salmon 

 fry in 1957-58, based on counts of fry at 

 the weir, was 22 percent. This is in con- 

 trast to 0.3 percent survival in 1956-57. 



A major portion of the catalog of 

 Southeastern Alaska salmon streams, which 

 was started last year by the Fisheries 

 Research Institute of the University of 

 Wcishington, has been completed and will be 

 published in the near future. This report 

 will consist of a sumraciry of the available 

 information concerning the salmon escape- 

 ments and of maps and physical descriptions 

 of the more than 1,000 salmon streams in 

 Southeastern Alaska. 



A large-scale program of tagging pink 

 salmon wa5 conducted off the west coast of 

 Prince of Wales Island in 1957 emd again in 

 1958 by the Fisheries Research Institute 

 under contract to the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries. The pink salmon tagging in the 

 vicinity of Noyes Island in 1957 showed that 

 the early group of fish (July 20 -August 10) 

 was predominantly bound for the Skeena River 

 in British Columbia, while tagging later in 

 the season (August 11 -September 2) revealed 

 migrations principally to Alaskan waters 

 surrounding Prince of Wales Island. The 

 character of the run in 1957 showed a change 

 with regard to the timing of the run, the 

 peak catches occurring about one month ear- 

 lier than usual. Therefore, comparcible 

 tagging experiments were repeated in 1958, 

 when 8,830 pink salmon were tagged from the 

 purse seine fishery and from traps in the 

 Noyes Island area. After stream surveys to 

 recover tags are complete, detailed analysis 

 of the recovery data for both years will 

 begin. 



The cooperative research program of 

 the Bureciu of Commercial Fisheries, the 

 Fisheries Research Institute, and the U. S. 

 Forest Service on the effects of logging on 

 salmon streams was continued in 1958 at the 

 Forest Service Research Center near Mollis, 



