Fortunately, the 1920 salmon runs were 

 greater than those of 1919, and the cannery 

 operations affected the escapements far less 

 than in the previous year. Gilbert and O'Malley 

 (1921) commented on the conditions as follows: 



In 1920 there was at least a fair average run of the 

 better class, and not improbably it was one of the best 

 runs that can be expected in the Yukon; but the cannery 

 was unsuccessful, owing to adverse fishing conditions. 

 It obtained a little more than half as many kings as in 

 1919 and less than half as many chums. Had the 58,000 

 kings and 155,000 chums been permitted to enter the 

 river more salmon undoubtedly would have reached the 

 spawning grounds, but the amount of dried salmon 

 would not have been greatly increased. In the first 

 place the number released would bear a small ratio to 

 the total number running in so good a year; and, 

 furthermore, along that section of the river which put 

 up by far the larger amount of dried salmon, wheels, 

 if operated more than a few hours each day during the 

 height of the run, caught more fish than could be 

 cleaned and prepared for drying. It does not then ap- 

 pear that with a large run of salmon and a relatively 

 small cannery pack the latter has any recognizable 

 effect in lessening the dried salmon supply of the 

 Yukon. We are not prepared, however, to venture the 

 assertion that such would have been the case had the 

 cannery pack in 1920 reached as large proportions as 

 it attained in 1919. But even had the cannery put up the 

 full 60,000 cases in 1920, for which it made prepara- 

 tions, it would not have reproduced the severe condi- 

 tions which existed on the river in 1919. These, as had 

 been shown, were the result of a phenomenally poor 

 season, made much worse by a large cannery pack. 



A public hearing was held in Seattle, Novem- 

 ber 23, 1920, to consider the advisability of 

 closing all commercial fishing on the Yukon 

 River system. The report of this hearing 

 (Bower, 1921) stated: 



Satisfactory information was presented at that hear- 

 ing in support of the opinion generally expressed that 

 commercial fishing for export could not be continued 

 without seriously depleting the runs of salmon and 

 jeopardizing the lives of the native inhabitants of the 

 region and their indispensable dogs. Accordingly the 

 Secretary of Commerce issued an order on December 18, 

 1920, prohibiting the taking of salmon for other than 

 local use from the Yukon River, its tributaries, and 

 the waters within 500 yards of the mouth thereof after 

 August 31, 1921. 



Although the Yukon River has been opened 

 for a limited commercial fishery upon king 

 salmon for many years, chum salmon have 

 been protected. The Alaska Department of Fish 

 and Game liberalized the regulations in 1961 



to allow for a greater number of salmon to be 

 taken. Prior to August 1, only king salmon 

 can be taken, but after that date chum salmon 

 may be taken legally, as well as king and coho 

 salmon. The latter two have quotas of 5,000 

 fish each in the area above Owl Slough. By 

 August 1, most chum salmon have migrated 

 through the fishing area and will not be avail- 

 able to the fishery. 



The first estimate of the importance of chum 

 salmon in the economy of the Yukon River 

 region was recorded in 1918 (Bower, 1919) 

 as follows: "Statistics compiled at the close 

 of the season of 1918 indicated that exclusive 

 of gear operated by the cannery and salteries 

 near the mouth of the river, the whites and 

 natives on the Yukon and tributary waters used 

 393 fish wheels, valued at $19,650, and 130 

 gill nets aggregating 3,250 fathoms, valued at 

 $6,500. The estimated catch for local require- 

 ments was 1,400,000 salmon, which when dried 

 represented approximately 700 tons of fish, 

 valued at $140,000." Chum salmon may have 

 made up 90 percent of the total. 



Gilbert and O'Malley (1921) evaluated the 

 1920 Yukon River fishery as follows: "Alto- 

 gether, on the Yukon and the Tanana, 301 fish 

 wheels were operated in 1920 and resulted in 

 a take of 622 tons. Of this amount 8 percent 

 were king salmon and 92 percent were chums. 

 If an allowance of 100 tons is made for the 

 tributaries not visited and for the later runs 

 on the Yukon which were not seen — and this 

 allowance is almost certainly inadequate — 

 there would be a total provision of dried sal- 

 mon for the Yukon and its tributaries in 1920 

 amounting to 722 tons." Based on their esti- 

 mates stores of dried chum salmon amounted 

 to 650 tons, which would equal 1,083,300 fish, 

 using a conversion factor of 1.2 pounds dried 

 salmon per fish. 



Yukon River catches have been compiled 

 from data in the annual reports on Alaska 

 fishery and fur-seal industries for the period 

 1922-43 (table 5). The annual catches were 

 listed as tons of dried salmon, but these were 

 converted into numbers of fish. The average 

 catch in numbers of chum salmon for this 

 period was 558,800. During this period the 

 numbers of fish wheels fluctuated yearly, but 



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