Figure 2. — California Rose , purse seiner used in salmon tagging experiments, south shore of Unimak Island and 



southwestern shore of Alaska Peninsula, 1961. 



tows were with the net open to the north 

 and east because previous tagging along the 

 south side of the Aleutian Islands had demon- 

 strated that salmon here usually migrate in a 

 westerly direction (Hartt, 1962). At the end 

 of the tow, the skiff pulled the bunt end of 

 the net to the seiner, where the end was 

 made fast. The purse line was then drawn 

 tight, and the purse rings were hauled aboard, 

 completing the encirclement of any fish 

 within the pursed net. The lead line, made 

 of heavy chain, was then hauled aboard, and 

 the end of the net was put through the power 

 block. The power block pulled the net aboard, 

 and six men stacked the webbing on the stern 

 as it descended from the block. During net 

 retrieval, the seine skiff pulled the vessel 

 broadside into the wind to prevent it from 

 drifting over the pursed seine. Fish were 

 gradually forced to the bunt end of the seine 

 from which they were pocketed amd dipped 

 into the live tank with hand dip nets. Standoff 

 poles were used from the seine skiff during 

 the dipping, separating the vessel and skiff 

 to prevent injury to the fish. As fish were 

 removed, the bunt was gradually "dried up" 



until all fish had been transferred to the 

 tank. For more complete descriptions of 

 general details of purse seining, see McNeely 

 (1961) and Hartt (1962). 



Salnnon were tagged with serially numbered, 

 red Petersen cellulose acetate disk tags, 22 

 mm. in diameter, which were fastened with 

 nickel pins at the origin of the dorsal fin. 

 No anesthetic was used, and releases were 

 made as quickly as possible near the location 

 of capture. Usually, two crews tagged fish 

 simultauieously on opposite sides of the vessel, 

 dipping them from the live tank amidships; 

 when few fish were captured, only one crew 

 tagged. 



The fork length of each fish was measured 

 to the closest half centimeter, and age was 

 determined from a scale takenfrom the lateral 

 area between the insertion of the dorsal fin 

 and the lateral line. Only fish in apparent 

 excellent condition were tagged. Those that 

 had been gilled or wounded, or dropped while 

 handling, were released overboard without 

 being tagged. With the possible exception 

 of a few chum salmon amd most king salmon, 

 all tagged fish were sexually mature and 



