south of the western Gulf of Alaska, with 4 ad- 

 ditional stations being fished along the 48° N. 

 latitude line on the homeward journey. The 

 fishing period for these two vessels extended 

 from August 11, 1955 to October 5, 1955. 



Catch composition 



The total salmon catch for the 11 sta- 

 tions where salmon were caught by the Mitkof 

 was 232, an average of 21 salmon per set for 

 12 shackles of gill net. Individual catches 

 ranged from 3 to 57 salmon. The seasonal 

 catches by species were 122 reds, 94 chums, 13 

 silvers and 3 kings. No pinics were taken. Five 

 steelhead were caught. The complete fishing 

 log of the Mitkof showing the catches of salmon 

 and other species of fish as well as other perti- 

 nent data is given in table 6. 



The total salmon catch by the Paragon 

 for the 14 stations where salmon were netted 

 was 558, an average of 40 salmon per set. The 

 catch per set ranged from 2 to 127 salmon. In 

 all, 76 reds, 470 chums, 1 silver and 11 kings 

 were taken. As with the Mitkof, no pinks were 

 caught. Three steelhead were taken. The com- 

 plete fishing log for the Paragon is given in 

 table 7. 



Chum salmon and red salmon formed the 

 bulk of the salmon catches by the Mitkof and 

 Paragon , as is demonstrated in tables 8 and 9. 

 The Mitkof caught 52.6 percent reds, 40.5 per- 

 cent chums, 5 .6 percent silvers, 1.3 percent 

 kings and no pinks. The Paragon caught 84.2 

 percent chums, 13.6 percent reds, 2 percent 

 kings, 0.2 percent silvers and no pinks. 



Tables 10 and 11 show the salmon catch 

 by species for each of the mesh sizes fished 

 both in total numbers and on a catch -per -shack- 

 le basis. The 4-1/2 -inch mesh was the most 

 effective on the Mitkof, taking 3.32 salmon per 

 shackle. On the Paragon the two most effective 

 nets were the 4- 1/2 -inch mesh (4.21 salmon 

 per shackle) and the 5-1/4-inch mesh (4.28 sal- 

 mon per shackle). In the catch of all three 

 vessels the 4-1/2-inch mesh was the most ef- 

 fective for taking salmon. 



Water temperature 



Whereas the John N . Cobb fished through- 

 out the Gulf of Alaska in waters where salmon 

 were present at every station, the Mitkof and 

 Paragon deliberately fished in more southerly 

 waters in and out of the warm Japanese current 

 to determine the southern range of the salmon. 

 Hence, salmon were taken only on the more 

 northerly stations by the latter two vessels. 



On the more southerly stations, while 

 salmon were not present, numbers of albacore 

 were taken. A total of 210 albacore at 15 sta- 

 tions between 45° N. latitude and 48° N. latitude 

 were taken by the two vessels. Also, blue 

 sharks were usually caught along with albacore. 



The relation of surface water tempera- 

 ture to numbers of salmon and albacore caught 

 by the two vessels is demonstrated in figure 14. 

 The extreme range of water temperatures where 

 salmon were caught was from 48.4° F. to 56.8° 

 F. On the other hand, water temperatures 

 ranged from 53.6° F. to 63.7° F. where alba- 

 core were taken. Salmon and albacore were 

 taken in the same net haul only once --at station 

 26 of the Paragon . The general trend shown in 

 figure 14 is U-shaped, with the greater catches 

 of salmon occurring in the colder waters, small 

 catches or no catches of salmon and albacore at 

 intermediate temperatures, and the greater 

 catches of albacore in the warmer waters. 



The surface water temperatures at the 

 50 John N ■ Cobb fishing stations ranged from 

 48.3° F. to 54.0° F. with salmon taken at all 

 stations and no albacore taken at any station. 



A series of sets (stations 12-14) by the 

 Paragon along the 175° E. longitude line made 

 between August 24 and August 26, 1955 was re- 

 peated in mid-September (stations 26-28) when 

 the water temperature had cooled 4.7° F. to 4.9° 

 F. at each station. On the initial run no salmon 

 were taken, but on the later run salmon were 

 caught at all three stations. This phenomenon 

 indicates that the salmon tend to increase their 

 geographic range in a southerly direction as the 

 warm Japanese current is restricted southward. 



After the main fishing cruises of the 

 Mitkof and Paragon were completed, a short ad- 

 ditional cruise was made south along the North 



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