With the exception of the tagging off the Naknek 

 River mouth, more fish from the 1956 taggings along 

 the east side of Kvichak Bay (Figs. 14 and 15) were 

 observed in the Kvichak River escapement than in the 

 Naknek River escapement. In 1956 the escapement to 

 the Kvichak River system was more than five times 

 that to the Naknek River system (Table 3). This 

 greater abundance of Kvichak River sockeye salmon 

 would explain why more Kvichak River fish than 

 Naknek River fish were tagged on the east side of 

 Kvichak Bay. Naknek stocks, however, were still 

 more abundant on the east side than on the west side 

 of Kvichak Bay in 1956. 



The escapement distribution of sockeye salmon 

 tagged at site 2 on the east side of Kvichak Bay in 

 1957 (Fig. 16) showed that Naknek River fish were 

 more abundant than Kvichak River fish in this area. 

 Although the run to the Naknek-Kvichak fishing dis- 

 trict in 1957 was about half as large as in 1956, the 

 relative sizes of the escapements to the Naknek and 

 Kvichak Rivers (Table 3) indicated that Kvichak 

 River stocks again dominated this run. Kvichak River 

 fish were apparently not as abundant in the near- 

 shore waters on the east side of Kvichak Bay in 1957 

 as they were in 1956; as a result, a higher proportion of 

 Naknek fish were probably tagged in this area in 1957. 



The foregoing results illustrate three points about 

 the distribution of sockeye salmon stocks in Kvichak 

 Bay. First, Kvichak and Wood River stocks occurred 

 together along the west side of Kvichak Bay between 

 Etolin Point and the outer boundary of the Naknek- 

 Kvichak fishing district. Second, a mixture of 

 primarily Naknek and Egegik River stocks occurred 

 along the east side of Kvichak Bay. Third, the stock 

 composition changed from principally Naknek River 

 sockeye salmon on the east side of the bay to mainly 

 Kvichak River sockeye salmon on the west side. 



Distribution of Nushagak Bay Sockeye Salmon 

 Stocks in Inner Bristol Bay. — Escapement obser- 

 vations of sockeye salmon tagged in 1956 and 1959 

 (Figs. 17 and 18) indicated the individual stocks com- 

 prising the run to Nushagak Bay were already 

 segregated to a certain extent before entering this bay. 

 This was particularly true for the Wood and Igushik 

 River stocks and may also be true for the Snake River 

 stocks. 



The recovery distribution of the sockeye salmon 

 tagged in 1959 at the entrance to Nushagak Bay (Fig. 

 17) showed Igushik River fish were the most abundant 

 stock on the west side of the bay, while Wood River 

 fish appeared to be the most abundant stock on the 

 east side of the bay. More fish tagged at site 1 on the 

 west side of Nushagak Bay were observed in the 

 Igushik River escapement than in the Wood River es- 

 capement and more fish tagged at sites 2, 3, and 4 

 were observed in the Wood River escapement than in 

 the Igushik River escapement. 



The apparent segregation of the individual sockeye 

 salmon stocks comprising the run to Nushagak Bay is 



also indicated by the fishery recoveries of fish tagged 

 at sites 1-4 in 1959. The tags recovered within the 

 Nushagak fishing district were grouped by tagging 

 site and subdistrict in which they were recovered (Fig. 

 21). A high proportion of the fish tagged at sites 1 and 



2 were caught in a subdistrict encompassing the 

 Igushik River mouth; most of these fish were recap- 

 tured in the set and drift gill nets operated within or 

 close to the Igushik River mouth. Most of the recap- 

 tures of sockeye salmon tagged at sites 3 and 4 were 

 from subdistricts on the east side of Nushagak Bay. 

 As shown above, more sockeye salmon tagged at sites 



3 and 4 were observed in the Wood River escapement 

 than in the escapement to the other river systems, in- 

 dicating that the Wood River stock moved through 

 Nushagak Bay principally on the east side. 



In spite of the dominance of Wood River stocks in 

 1959 and the smaller amount of fishing effort on the 

 west side of Nushagak Bay, most of the fish that were 

 tagged at site 1 and recaptured were recaptured on the 

 west side of Nushagak Bay. Wood River stocks 

 generally make up the greater portion of the total run 

 to Nushagak Bay. For example, in 1959 the Wood 

 River escapement was more than three times the 

 Igushik escapement (Table 3), and over 75% of the 

 fishing effort in 1959 (estimated from aerial surveys of ■ 

 the fishery) was concentrated in the eastern half of | 

 Nushagak Bay, which is the area of greatest fishing 

 success. The proportion of tagged fish observed in the 

 escapement was significantly higher for fish from site 

 1 than for fish from the other three sites (Appendix 

 Table 7), and probably reflects the smaller amount of 

 fishing effort on the west side of Nushagak Bay. 



The escapement distribution of sockeye salmon 

 tagged off Etolin Point in 1956 was similar to that of 

 the fish tagged in this location in 1959 (Fig. 18), which 

 suggests that sockeye salmon on the east side of 

 Nushagak Bay were primarily Wood River stocks. No 

 fish tagged off Cape Constantine in 1956 were ob- 

 served in Wood or Nushagak River escapements (Fig. 

 18). Eighteen fish tagged off Cape Constantine in 1956 

 were captured in set gill nets near the mouth of the 

 Igushik River, which indicates that they were destin- 

 ed for the Igushik Lake spawning grounds. Few fish 

 from the 1956 tagging north of the Igushik River 

 mouth (Fig. 18) were recaptured in set nets in the 

 Igushik River. Most of these tagged fish were observed 

 in the Wood River (Fig. 18), which indicates that 

 Igushik River fish were not abundant north of the 

 river but probably went directly up the Igushik River 

 after they entered Nushagak Bay. 



My interpretation of the distribution of the 

 individual stocks in the sockeye salmon run to 

 Nushagak Bay is as follows: (1) Igushik River fish are 

 already segregated, to a certain extent, from Wood 

 River stocks before they enter Nushagak Bay; (2) the 

 main migration route of Igushik River fish is in the 

 nearshore area around Cape Constantine, along the 

 west side of Nushagak Bay, and up the Igushik River; 

 and (3) Wood River fish, and probably those of the 



22 



