Figure 15. — Relative abundance of maturing pink salmon in April and May 1967 and 1968. 



165° W. than on long. 175° E. to 180° (55.2 

 percent) . 



The age composition of the Bristol Bay fish 

 migrating past long. 164° W. in early June was 

 similar to that of fish in this area in May. 

 Catches indicated that the percentage of age 

 .2 fish increased slightly from 62.5 percent in 

 May to 65.3 percent for migrating fish in June. 

 These figures compare closely to the age com- 

 position of the total inshore run of sockeye 

 salmon to Bristol Bay in 1968, which was 63.6 

 percent age .2 fish. 



Longline catches also indicated a shift to a 

 higher proportion of younger maturing fish 

 from north to south (table 2). The fact that 

 longlines are selective for larger fish is sup- 



ported by catches along the cruise track of the 

 Wakashio Maru: age .3 fish contributed 39.7 

 percent of the maturing fish caught in gill nets 

 and 53.6 percent of those caught by longline. 



A shift to younger ages at more southern 

 latitudes was not apparent for immature fish 

 in May; a high percentage taken on the two 

 easternmost cruise tracks were age .2 (100 and 

 91 percent), but only 56 percent were age .2 

 in catches along long. 175° E. to 180°. In June 

 along long. 164° W., the availability of age .1 

 fish increased and made up 37.5 percent of the 

 catches. 



Figure 16 shows mean fork lengths and 

 ranges in length by maturity stage, age, sex, 

 and location. The small number of fish in 



17 



