55°N, 



I75°E 



180° 



I75°W. 



170° W. 



50' 



4 5° 



40° 



I65°W. I60°W. 



ASKAN STREAM 

 AREA 



x WESTERN 

 SUBARCTIC 

 AREA 



TRANSITION 

 AREA 



55°N. 



50° 



45° 



40° 



Figure 14. — Relative abundance of maturing pink salmon as shown by gill net catches of Japanese and United 



States research vessels in May 1968. 



Areas ; they were concentrated in the Western 

 Subarctic and Transition waters south of the 

 western and central Aleutian Islands and ap- 

 peared to be most abundant in the Western 

 Subarctic and Ridge Areas south of the eastern 

 Aleutian Islands (fig. 14). The lack of fishing 

 in the Transition waters along the easternmost 

 cruise track makes this conclusion uncertain, 

 however. 



Much like the sockeye and chum salmon, pink 

 salmon were found in more northerly waters 

 in early June near long. 165° W. They were 

 in the Ridge and Alaskan Stream, apparently 

 migrating to spawning streams (fig. 9). 



Coho and Chinook Salmon 



Coho and chinook salmon were caught in 

 much smaller numbers than were the other 

 species of salmon. The George B. Kelez took 

 none in waters north of lat. 48° N., whereas 

 the Hokko Maru took only 38 coho and 1 chi- 

 nook salmon, and the Wakashio Maru, 4 coho 



and 3 chinook (table 1). All coho were taken 

 from lat. 45° N. and southward in Transition 

 water. 



AGE AND SIZE OF SALMON 



On each cruise track the age compositions 

 and lengths of salmon were examined to illus- 

 trate differences or similarities between areas 

 for various species. 



Sockeye Salmon 



Catches by research vessels in May indicate 

 that age composition of maturing sockeye 

 salmon changed with latitude (table 2). Age 

 .3 fish predominated at the more northern lat- 

 itudes and age .2 fish at the more southern 

 latitudes. When the data were combined for 

 all latitudes the greatest proportion of the 

 catches consisted of age .2 fish; this proportion 

 was slightly higher (62.5 percent) near long. 



16 



