Pacific to a large degree; only one tag return was 

 reported from there. 



In summary, tag recoveries have demonstrated that 

 Asian chum salmon occupy much of the North Pacific 

 Ocean and Bering Sea in their last year at sea. The 

 various Asian stocks can be roughly divided into four 

 groups based on regions they occupied during the last 

 spring and summer at sea. Those with the most exten- 

 sive distribution, extending eastward to the Gulf of 

 Alaska in the North Pacific Ocean and into some 

 areas of the Bering Sea were from the Japanese 

 Islands, the Kurile Islands, Sakhalin Island, and 

 Kamchatka. A somewhat more restricted distribu- 

 tion, apparently limited mainly to the western Pacific 

 Ocean but extending to waters off the central Aleu- 

 tian Islands, was found for fish from the Okhotsk Sea 

 coast. This did not apply to the Amur River chum 

 salmon which had the most limited distribution of 

 any Asian stock, being found only in the western 

 Pacific. A fourth group from the Bering Sea coast of 

 the USSR was widely distributed, extending from 

 waters along the Aleutian Islands to the Gulf of 

 Alaska but not into the western North Pacific Ocean 

 to any degree — waters commonly inhabited by most 

 other Asian chum salmon. 



North American stocks (Figs. 47-58). — It is im- 

 mediately apparent from a comparison of Figures 35 

 and 47 that North American chum salmon have a 

 much more limited distribution at sea than Asian 

 chum salmon. North American stocks are primarily 

 limited to the northeastern Pacific Ocean and eastern 

 Bering Sea. The differences in size of areas occupied 

 by chum salmon from the two continents appeared 

 related to the numbers of chum salmon produced by 

 each continent — as previously discussed, the produc- 

 tion in Asia was about four times that in North 

 America. 



Most chum salmon in North America are produced 

 in many moderate and small streams and commercial 

 catches have indicated that production is about equal 

 in each of the coastal areas of central Alaska (Bristol 

 Bay to Yakutat), of southeastern Alaska, and from 

 British Columbia southward (Shepard et al. 1968). 

 Production from northern Alaska (streams north of 

 Bristol Bay) is not as well documented due to the lack 

 of intensive fisheries in this region, but production is 

 probably in excess of IV2 million fish annually. 



Northern and western Aldska. — Tag returns in- 

 dicate that the offshore distribution of maturing 

 chum salmon are somewhat similar for the various 

 river systems in western Alaska (Figs. 48-51). They 

 primarily occupied waters of the eastern North Pacific 

 Ocean, extending south to about lat. 45° N. Recoveries 

 from south of the Aleutians, however, show that 

 maturing fish extend westward to waters off the cen- 

 tral Aleutian Islands. Yukon River returns were the 

 most numerous, coming from broad areas of the 

 eastern North Pacific and from wider areas of the Ber- 



ing Sea than for other river systems. One return came 

 from near the coast of Siberia. 



Central Alaska, — Central Alaska chum salmon 

 appear to have a much more limited distribution than 

 those from western Alaska (Figs. 52, 53). Tagging 

 locations of recoveries were restricted to east of long. 

 160°W in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, but from 

 this longitude they were found eastward to near the 

 coasts of southeastern Alaska and British Columbia. 

 In spring and summer, when the tagging took place, 

 almost all of the maturing chum salmon appeared to 

 be north of lat. 50°N and the majority, particularly for 

 some stocks, north of lat. 55°N. A few recoveries near 

 British Columbia, however, came from south of this 

 latitude. 



Southeastern Alaska. — Maturing chum salmon 

 from southeastern Alaska like those from central 

 Alaska were found across the eastern North Pacific 

 Ocean but the westward range of tag releases only ex- 

 tended to about long. 155°W for most fish (Figs. 54, 

 55). A single recovery from south of the central 

 Aleutians, however, suggests that some proportion of 

 southeastern Alaska chum salmon may at times 

 migrate far to the west. Their north-south distribution 

 was rather restricted with most recoveries coming 

 from north of lat. 55°N with the exception of some fish 

 near the coast which ranged as far south as about lat. 

 50°N. 



British Columbia. — The maturing chum salmon 

 from streams in British Columbia appeared to have a 

 limited east-west distribution in their last spring and 

 summer at sea (Figs. 56, 57). Except for Vanc6uver 

 Island and Fraser River chum salmon, recoveries were 

 largely from waters relatively close to the coasts of 

 southeastern Alaska and British Columbia. The 

 north-south distribution was wide, extending from off 

 the north coast of the Gulf of Alaska southward to 

 Vancouver Island. 



The few recoveries from the Fraser River and Van- 

 couver Island suggested that these stocks had a 

 broader east-west distribution than northern British 

 Columbia stocks, extending across the eastern North 

 Pacific to about long. 155°W. 



Washington and Oregon. — Recoveries were few in 

 these States where production of chum salmon is low 

 (Fig. 58). Most returns were from Puget Sound, and 

 these probably represent in part chum salmon that 

 were destined for the Fraser River in British Colum- 

 bia. The tagging location of fish taken in Puget Sound 

 was primarily in the northeastern Gulf of Alaska. One 

 return, however, came from south of the eastern Aleu- 

 tian Islands. 



Only three tag recoveries were made along the 

 coasts of Washington and Oregon (one each from 

 coast of Washington, Columbia River, and coast of 

 Oregon). These were all from the northern Gulf of 



29 



