idea of its contribution oan be deduced from discussion of catch 

 statistics. An average annual catch of 2,286,588 pounds of salmon 

 has been taken commercially from waters of Humboldt and Del Norte 

 Counties over a period of 28 years (Table 8), These counties lie 

 north and south of the mouth of the Klamath River, and catches there 

 certainly include a major portion of the contribution of the Klamath 

 River. Salmon originating from other drainages appearing in these 

 oatohes are assumed to be compensated for by Klamath River salmon 

 taken north and south of these two counties. "Brinity River con- 

 stitutes approximately one-third of the total Klamath drainage 

 accessible to spawning salmon, and its contribution to the com- 

 mercial fishery supported by the Klamath drainage is assumed to b« 

 proportional to its part of the drainage area involved. Based on 

 these assumptions, the annual catch of salmon from Trinity River 

 would approximate 762,200 pounds. 



An Important sports fishery materially increases the value of 

 the salmon production. It is difficult to even approximate the value 

 of these fish to the sportsmen. Businesses and people benefiting from 

 sport fishing are so greatly varied and widely distributed that a 

 summation of values is impossible. The Calif oniia Division of Fish 

 and Game estimates that 1,385 anglers took 11,496 salmon from the 

 Trinity River in 1941. Based on an average weight of 11 pounds per 

 salmon, this catch amounted to 126,456 pounds* The total production 

 of the salmon fishery resource of the Trinity River is probably 890,000 

 pounds per year. 



Characteristios of the seasonal rims 



King salmon enter the Klamath River from the ocean in two well- 

 defined runs, one in spring and another in fall. The spring run, once 

 the largest run entering the river, begins in late March, reaches a peak 

 in May, and diminishes to the vanishing point by the end of June. At 

 present, this run is very small, but Snyder (1931) cites a paper by 

 R. D. Hume (undated) as authority for the assertion that in 1850 and 

 even later the spring run was the most abundant. It was practically 

 extinct in 1892, and no evidence of recovery was evident when Hume 

 wrote his article which certainly appeared before the turn of the cen- 

 tury. The STsmner run usually begins to enter Klamath estuary about the 

 first of July. It increases gradually throughout that month, reaches 

 a peak in August, declines steadily through September, and practically 

 disappears by the beginning of winter. There appears to be little 

 or no segregation of this latter run into summer and fall seginents. 



Adult king salmon migrate pest Lewiston enroute to their spawning 

 grounds in what appear to be three seasonal groups t one in spring, 

 one in summer, and one in fall. Each of these groups, excepting 

 possibly the spring run, is distinct emd divisions between them are 



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