CHINOOK SALMON 



Figures 105-111 



Chinook salmon, with the exception of masu 

 salmon, 0. masou, are considerably less numerous 

 than the other species of Pacific salmon, and possibly 

 for that reason, relatively few chinook salmon were 

 tagged during the high-seas research cruises or were 

 subsequently recovered. A comparison of total 

 chinook salmon landings show that North American 

 catches greatly exceed Asian catches. In the period 

 1954-61, the combined commercial catches of Japan 

 and Russia varied from 96,000 to 250,000 chinook 

 salmon compared with 2,456,300 to 3,664,200 fish in 

 North America (Mason 1965). In Asia, chinook 

 salmon occur on Hokkaido and Sakhalin islands 

 northward, at least to the Anadry River. In North 

 America they have been found from the Ventura River 

 in California, north to the Chukchi Sea (Mason 1965). 



The relatively few tag recoveries were nearly all 

 from North America (Fig. 105); a single Asian 

 recovery resulted from a tag released south of 

 Hokkaido. North American recoveries were mainly 

 from tagging in the Bering Sea, in waters along the 

 Aleutian Islands, and off the coast of North America 

 from Yakutat to the State of Washington. 



Coastal Recoveries in Year of Tagging 



Asian stocks. — The single recovery of a tagged 

 chinook salmon in Asia was made on Hokkaido Island 

 from a release point fairly close to shore south of Hok- 

 kaido (Fig. 105). 



North American stocks (Figs. 106, 107).— Re- 

 coveries of maturing tagged chinook salmon in North 

 America were, in many instances, from tagging in 

 coastal or near coastal waters and often relatively near 

 the point of tagging (as was also observed for the sin- 

 gle Asian recovery). Of the two recoveries in western 

 Alaska (Fig. 106), the one recovery in Egegik was from 

 tagging at the approaches to Bristol Bay; the other 

 recovery was from a release made south of the central 

 Aleutian Islands. The pattern of recoveries being 

 relatively close to the area of tagging was especially 

 noted for recoveries in areas from southeastern Alaska 

 southward to Puget Sound in Washington (Figs. 106, 

 107), although one chinook salmon recovered in 

 northern British Columbia was tagged in the northern 

 Gulf of Alaska. 



Recoveries from coastal areas of Washington 

 (including the Columbia River), Oregon, and Califor- 



nia were from more distant areas, compared to fish at 

 other recovery points, coming from releases north of 

 recovery areas mainly off British Columbia (Fig. 107). 

 These returns indicated a northward movement of the 

 fish sometime prior to their reaching maturity. 



Tag recoveries of maturing fish were insufficient to 

 indicate the ocean distribution of the various chinook 

 salmon stocks. 



High-Seas Recoveries in Year of Tagging 



High-seas recoveries in the year of tagging were 



limited to two chinook salmon recoveries from 



releases within the respective recovery areas (Fig. 

 108). 



Coastal Recoveries Subsequent to 

 Year of Tagging 



Recoveries of chinook salmon tagged as immatures, 

 although few in number, better illustrate the exten- 

 sive migrations that some chinook salmon make dur- 

 ing their life at sea than do the recoveries of maturing 

 fish. The returns to northern and western Alaska 

 came from immatures released in waters of the central 

 and western Bering Sea (Fig. 109). These returns com- 

 bined with the recovery of a fish tagged as a mature in 

 the central North Pacific Ocean demonstrate the wide 

 ranging areas of the ocean occupied by some chinook 

 salmon of northern and western Alaska and the exten- 

 sive migrations they undertake. Similar extensive 

 migrations were demonstrated for chinook salmon 

 from southeastern Alaska and the Columbia River by 

 returns to these areas from tagging south of the cen- 

 tral Aleutians (Figs. 109, 110). Returns to the Colum- 

 bia River also came from as far away as the northern 

 Gulf of Alaska as did one tagged fish to central British 

 Columbia (Fig. 110). 



The Columbia River recoveries, tagged as juveniles, 

 indicated the northwestward movement along the 

 coast of the juveniles during their first summer at sea 

 (Hartt et al. 1970). 



High-Seas Recoveries Subsequent to 

 Year of Tagging 



High-seas recoveries of tagged chinook salmon 

 following the year of tagging (Fig. Ill) show recoveries 

 mainly in the same areas as the fish were tagged. The 

 one exception was the recovery in the central North 

 Pacific Ocean from tagging in the northwestern Ber- 

 ing Sea. 



79 



