124 U. 8S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
SALMON 
A marked decline in the abundance of salmon was apparent in the 
1939 season for Alaska as a whole, and particularly for the southeastern 
and western districts. In southeast Alaska the catch of every species 
was lighter than it had been for several years, and the total catch was 
the smallest obtained there since 1929. The catch in western Alaska, 
which consists chiefly of red salmon from the important Bristol Bay 
runs, was at the lowest level since 1935, notwithstanding an increase 
in the intensity of fishing. 
In central Alaska, also, the catch was the smallest since 1935, al- 
though the decline was not as great as in the other two major districts, 
nor did it apply to all fishing areas. The most noticeable shortage 
oecurred on Prince William Sound, where the run of pink salmon was 
exceptionally light. The Kodiak and Chignik areas, on the other 
hand, had ood 1 runs of pinks and reds, respectively, and the produc- 
tion of canned salmon in these two areas exceeded that of the pr aline 
year. The pack for the Ikatan-Shumagin area was on about the same 
level as that of 1938, abpeuse containing a greater proportion of red 
salmon than for that year. The red salmon run in the Cook Inlet 
area was well above av ook but the total pack showed a decline 
from that of 1938, owing to the light run of pinks and cohos. The 
unexpectedly small catch in the Copper River region was attributed to 
the delay in settlement of a price dispute between packers and _ fisher- 
men, with the result that operations were not begun until a large part 
of the early run had passed upstream. 
The total catch of salmon decreased 23 percent from that for 1938. 
By districts the decrease was 20 percent in southeast Alaska, about 
8 percent in central, and about 44 percent in western Alaska. 
There was an increase of about 3 percent in the number of fathoms 
of seines, and about 6 percent in the number of fathoms of gill nets 
used in Alaska in 1939, compared with the previous year. The number 
of traps decreased about 3 percent. 
CatTcH AND APPARATUS 
The total number of seines used in the salmon industry in 1939 was 
773, of which 665 were purse seines and 108 beach seines. The purse 
seines aggregated 104,553 fathoms of webbing, and the beach seines 
10,431 fathoms. The number of gill nets used was 4,920, having a 
total length of 346,572 fathoms. There were 149 driven and 294 
floating traps—a total of 443. This number does not include 2 traps. 
in southeast Alaska that were taken out by storms before catching 
any fish. It does include, however, 17 traps in various parts of central 
Alaska that may be termed “dummy” traps, the catches of which 
were negligible. 
Southeastern Alaska was credited with 466 seines, or a total of 
82,468 fathoms, an increase of 19 seines and 8,993 fathoms of webbing 
over the number used in 1938; also with 434 gill nets, aggregating 
29,555 fathoms, an increase of 7 nets and 1,330 fathoms of webbing; 
and with 23 driven and 262 floating traps, a decrease of 6 driven traps 
and an increase of 5 Gonlens traps, as compared with the number 
operated in 1938. 

