Escapement figures are difficult to 

 obtain in silted rivers, such as Alsek, 

 Akwe , Dangerous, and Yahtse. However, for 

 all species of salmon, except coho and chum, 

 the escapement that was observed was in 

 excess of the commercial catch. The Situk 

 River had a favorable escapement of about 

 70,000 pink and 40,000 red salmon. 



Copper River - Bering River - Yakataga 



Except for trolling, which is permitted 

 off Yakataga, gill nets are used exclusively 

 in the estuarine fisheries of the Copper 

 River axea, which extends from the western 

 extremity of the river delta to Icy Bay. 

 The Copper and Bering Rivers are the princi- 

 pal producers of salmon in this area, eind 

 both cire fished for red, king, and coho 

 salmon from early May to mid-September. The 

 Yakataga district has two small coho fisher- 

 ies, the Tsiu and Kaliakh, which are fished 

 from early August to mid-September. 



The total 1958 production of the Cop- 

 per and Bering Rivers consisted of 28,000 

 cases of red salmon (figure 8) — 9,000 of 

 coho and 2,000 of king — about one-half the 

 average of the past ten years. The Yakataga 

 production of 10,000 coho salmon, most of 

 which were from the Kaliaikh River, wjls 

 slightly below the average for the past six 

 years. 



Information obtained pertinent to the 

 substantial subsistence fishery in the 

 Copper River tributciries indicated 30 fish 

 wheels were used by local residents who 

 took 12,000 red and 500 king salmon for their 

 personal use and for dog food. Spawning 



ground observations made during the season 

 plus aerial surveys indicated a good 

 escapement of red, king, and coho salmon. 



Prince William Sound 



The Prince William Sound district, 

 which extends from Cape Fairfield to Point 

 Whitshed (including Middleton Island), is 

 characterized by some 200 short spawning 

 stieams. These streams have capacities of 

 from a few pair to as high as 60,000 pink 

 salmon, cuid much of the successful spawning 

 of this species occurs in the intertidal 

 zones. A feature peculiar to this area is 

 that there is little natural estuarine pro- 

 tection, and the salmon are either in the 

 area of the commercial fishery or on the 

 spawning grounds — some times both simultane- 

 ously. Average salmon production in Prince 

 William Sound consists of 55 percent pink, 

 25 percent chum, 13 percent red, 6 percent 

 coho, and 1 percent king. Seines and traps 

 axe used to harvest the catch, which takes 

 place from mid-July through early August. 



The 1958 pink salmon run in the Sound 

 was the best in the past 11 years (figure 

 9). The pack of some 300,000 cases was well 

 above the annual average of 172,000 for the 

 past ten operating years and made up over 

 80 percent of the 1958 total pack, which 

 included all species. An additional million 

 plus pink salmon, or roughly 60,000 cases, 

 were exported from the district. In addi- 

 tion to the good commercial harvest, an 

 excellent escapement occurred. In 1954 cuid 

 1955 all commercial fishing for salmon in 

 Prince William Sound was closed, except at 

 Eshamy which is the major red salmon produc- 



Figure 8. --Red salmon catch, Copper River. 



Figure 9. --Pink salmon pack, Prince William 

 Sound, 



10 



