items taken: (1) by season, (2) by geo- 

 graphical area, (3) by species of salm- 

 on, and (4) by lengths of salmon. 



Donald T, Montgonnery measured 

 and counted a large part of the stomach 

 material, and Dr. Nornaan J. Wilinnovsky 

 identified a number of the organisms. 

 We appreciate the cooperation of the 

 commercial troll fishermen for their 

 aid in the study. 



METHODS AND MATERIALS 



The proposed sampling program 

 was discussed with commercial troll 

 fishermen in several comnnunities of 

 Southeastern Alaska. A reward of $1 

 was offered for each salmon stonnach 

 collected and sent to the Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries Laboratory in 

 Juneau with accompanying collection 

 data. Table 1 lists the names andhontie 

 ports of the vessels participating in 

 the study. 



Stomachs of king and coho salmon 

 were collected each season from mid- 

 Jxine to mid-September. Fishermen 

 were instructed to collect over as wide 

 an area as possible at a rate of one or 

 two stomachs per day. The distribution 

 of the collections was grouped into 

 four areas, designated I, II, III, and 

 IV, for purposes of analysis (fig. 1). 

 Percentages of the troll-caught salmon 

 stomach samples fronn each area are 

 given in figure 2. 



Each troller was supplied with the 

 following equipment: small cloth bags 

 in which to place stomachs, 25-pound 

 fir fish kegs for holding stomachs, 

 waterproof identification tags, measur- 

 ing sticks marked in 2.5-inch colored 

 sections, and enough formalin to make 

 4 gallons of 10 -percent solution. Fish- 

 ernnen were asked to record the follow- 

 ing data on the tag provided for each 

 stonciach collected: (1) date of capture, 

 (2) location of catch, (3) species, and 

 (4) fork length. The tag was placed in 

 the bag with the ston;iach, and the bag 

 was dropped into the keg of preserva- 

 tive. When 25 stomachs had been col- 

 lected, the keg was shipped to the 

 laboratory in Jxineau. 



TABLE 1. — Number of stomachs of Mng and 

 coho salmon retximed by conmercial 

 troll vessels. Southeastern Alaska, 

 1957-58 



Home port and vessel 



Ketchikan: 



Garland 

 Red Angel 

 Argo 



Petersburg : 



llkum 



Pegge 



Ava 



Craig : 

 31B387 

 Omar 



31D479 



Sitka: 

 Elk 

 Myrth 

 Photographic 



Pelican: 

 Edrie 

 Betty J. 

 Olive T. 



ELfin Cove: 

 Lunar 



Juneau: 



Real George 

 Puppy 



Total 



Number of 

 stomachs 



25 

 25 

 24 



93 

 49 

 30 



50 

 49 

 24 



65 

 25 

 21 



25 

 24 

 13 



100 



131 

 23 



796 



A total of 850 stomachs were re- 

 ceived, 374 of which were from king 

 salmon, 422 frorrv coho, 7 from pink 

 (O. gorbuscha) , 1 from chum ^0.*eto>, 

 and 46 from salmon of undetermined 

 species. The stonciachs were opened, 

 the contents measured volunnetrically, 

 and the organisms identified and 

 counted. Analysis was made only on 

 the 796 stomachs from king and coho 

 salmon; of these, 201, or 25.2 percent, 

 were empty. 



