PINK SALMON 



Figures 71-89 



Pink salmon are the most numerous of Pacific 

 salmon and provide a larger proportion of the total an- 

 nual catch of Pacific salmon than any other single 

 species. During the period from 1954 to 1961, pink 

 salmon contributed about 40% of the weight and near- 

 ly 60% of the numbers of all salmon caught commer- 

 cially in the North Pacific and adjacent seas and fresh 

 water (Neave et al. 1967). 



In Asia, pink salmon spawn in streams extending 

 from North Korea and the Japanese Island of 

 Hokkaido northward to the Yana and Lena rivers 

 which flow into the Arctic Ocean. In North America, 

 pink salmon have been noted from the Russian River 

 in central California northward to central Alaska, 

 westward to Attu Island, northward to northern 

 Alaska, and eastward to the McKenzie River in 

 Canada (Neave et al. 1967). 



Abundance of pink salmon in Asia is substantially 

 greater than in North America. During the years 1951- 

 60 the average commercial catch of pink salmon in 

 Asian waters (west of long. 175°W) was about 99.4 

 million fish; in North America the commercial catch 

 averaged about 31.3 million fish or about one-third 

 the Asian catch (Kasahara 1963). 



Coastal Recoveries in Year of Tagging 



Pink salmon invariably return to spawn after one 

 winter at sea, and high-seas tagging was done primari- 

 ly on the maturing individuals during their final few 

 months at sea. During purse seine fishing with fine- 

 meshed nets, the Fisheries Research Institute, 

 University of Washington, captured and tagged 

 juvenile pink salmon which returned the year after 

 tagging. The total numbers of pink salmon tagged 

 since 1956 are shown in Figure 71. Total inshore 

 recoveries from Asia and North America (Fig. 72) 

 show that most recoveries were from tagging areas in 

 the northwestern Pacific Ocean, southeast of the 

 Kurile Islands, off the Aleutian Islands, and in the 

 northeastern Pacific. Of interest is the virtual absence 

 of recoveries from south of lat. 50° N and between 

 long. 165°E and 160°W although substantial numbers 

 of fish were tagged in this area. Recoveries came from 

 tagging locations as far south as near lat. 40° N in the 

 western Pacific (near lat. 38°N in the Sea of Japan) 

 and near lat. 43°N in the eastern Pacific. In the Ber- 

 ing Sea the northernmost point of tagging which 

 resulted in an inshore recovery was near lat. 58°N (at 

 long. 168°E). These tagging locations do not reflect 

 the entire range of distribution of pink salmon which, 

 as shown by Manzer et al. (1965), extended north of 

 lat. 60°N in the Bering Sea in June and July and as 

 far south as about lat. 40°N in the central North 

 Pacific in May. 



Asian stocks (Figs. 73-77).— Total Asian 

 recoveries of pink salmon (Fig. 73) came primarily 

 from tag releases in the northwestern Pacific Ocean 

 and the central and western Aleutian Islands area. 

 The easternmost point of tagging of an Asian coastal 

 recovery was near long. 162°W at about lat. 47° N. 

 There was a noticeable lack of recoveries from the 

 general area south of the western Aleutian Islands to 

 the Kamchatka Peninsula. Pink salmon are either not 

 distributed abundantly in this area or tagging effort 

 was inadequate in the area. An interesting feature of 

 the distribution of Asian pink salmon was that 

 although they are the most abundant of the salmon 

 species, their ocean distribution appeared more 

 limited than the less abundant Asian chum salmon or 

 western Alaska sockeye salmon. This could be an ac- 

 tual feature of their distribution or the Asian pink 

 salmon may not have been as available at the time 

 and areas of the tagging experiments as the chum or 

 sockeye salmon and their distribution not as fully 

 depicted. 



Honshu and Hokkaido islands to Okhotsk 

 Sea. — Pink salmon recoveries in the northern Japan 

 Islands, Kurile Islands, Sakhalin, and other streams 

 emptying into the Okhotsk Sea all were from the same 

 general release area in the northwestern Pacific 

 Ocean; this was primarily the area southeast of the 

 Kurile Islands (Figs. 74-76). The single recovery from 

 Honshu Island, five fish from Hokkaido, and several 

 from the Amur River, Japan Sea coast of USSR, and 

 Sakhalin were from tagging locations in the Japan 

 Sea. The easternmost location of a tagged pink 

 salmon recovered in the Okhotsk Sea area (in 

 Sakhalin) was near long. 177°E and lat. 50°N. 



East Kamchatka to Siberian coast. — Recoveries 

 of tagged pink salmon in Asia from east Kamchatka 

 to the Siberian coast were from quite different tagging 

 locations than the recoveries to other areas in Asia 

 (Figs. 76, 77). They came mainly from tagging 

 locations off the Aleutian Islands and in the Bering 

 Sea. Two recoveries in east Kamchatka and one in the 

 Karaginskii District, however, were from southeast of 

 the Kurile Islands. The easternmost tagging location 

 of a pink salmon recovered in Asia was near long. 

 162°W and lat. 47°N; this fish was recovered in the 

 Karaginskii District. A few fish from this district were 

 also tagged off the eastern Aleutian Islands to near 

 long. 163°W. 



North American stocks (Figs. 78-86).— North 

 American coastal recoveries of pink salmon (Fig. 78) 

 illustrate that the maturing fish were primarily dis- 

 tributed in the northeastern Pacific Ocean east of 

 long. 155°W and in the Aleutian Islands area east of 

 about long. 177°W. A comparison of Asian recoveries 

 (Fig. 73) with the North American recoveries in- 

 dicates the general separation of the two stocks of 



53 



