fe 80 

 IT Q- 60- 

 S S40- 

 l"20- 

 ^ 



olOO 



<80 



o 60 



VJ 



° 40 

 M 20 

 ? 



TRAPS -z^ 



« 'DRIFT NETS 



« 'SET NETS 



P^ 



'35 '40 '45 '50 



Figure 17. --Cook Inlet red salmon 

 gear operated 1932-1957 



_j 1 I i_ 



'55 



1941 42 43 '44 45 '46 47 '48 '49 '50 '51 '52 '53 '54 '55 '56 '57 



Figure 18.-- Cook Inlet red salmon 

 catch and fishing effort 



years. The drift net fleet increased slightly ■while shore gear remained about the same 

 (fig. 17). Tbixs, area licensing and the gear-time table succeeded in holding fishing 

 effort to the 1956 level (fig. l8) but did not bring about the decrease necessary to 

 achieve adequate conservation. Escapements (fig. 19) were light to the major spawning 

 systems and extremely poor in the minor systems. Distribution of escapement throughout 

 the season was uneven. 



Pink salmon runs were poor in this off-cycle year and correspondingly light escape- 

 ments occurred. Chum runs reached unprecedented strength resulting in a record pack of 

 127>950 cases. Escapement of the latter species was considered good, except to streams 

 of the Outer District where streamguard protection was inadequate to control illegal fish- 

 ing activity. 



TJie king salmon pack of 13,900 cases was about half of normal. It is likely that the 

 run came in eeirlier than usual. Opening season catches were made far inside Cook Inlet and 

 dropped off sharply after a few days. 



Research activities in the Cook Inlet District were concentrated on determining the 

 migratory routes, time of red salmon runs, and on devising methods of counting the escape- 

 ment of this species in the turbid glaciaJ. rivers that are typical of this area. 



^ '52 '53 '54 '55 '56 '57 '52 '53 '54 '55 '5 6 '57 '52 '53 '54 '55 '56 '57 



<3.0- 



^ 2.0 



lO 



SUSITNA RIVER 



30 

 20 

 1.0 



FISH CREEK 



52 '53 '54 '55 '56 '57 '52 '53 '54 '55 56 '57 '52 '53 '54 '55 '56 



Figure 19. --Cook Inlet red salmon relative escapements 



10 



