114 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



SALMON 



In 1927 the catch of salmon in Alaska as a whole showed a decrease 

 of 50 per cent from that of 1926, partly because of the small catch of red 

 salmon in western Alaska but chiefly due to the greatly diminished 

 run of humpback salmon in the southeastern district. A contribut- 

 ing factor also was the smaller run of humpback salmon that occurs 

 in central Alaska in alternate years, although it may be noted that 

 while the catch of this species was considerably less than in 1926 and 

 1924, it was larger than for any year prior to 1924 and far in excess 

 of any previous off-year catch in the district. The catch in south- 

 eastern Alaska decreased 67 per cent, in central Alaska 35 per cent, 

 and in western Alaska 41 per cent. 



There was a decrease of about 4 per cent for the whole of Alaska 

 in the number of fathoms of seines used, while the number of fathoms 

 of gill nets increased about 2 per cent, and the number of traps 

 operated increased 25 per cent. Of the additional traps, approxi- 

 mately 59 per cent were in the southeastern district and 41 per cent 

 in central Alaska. In comparison with the number operated in 1926, 

 however, southeastern Alaska showed an increase of about 20 per 

 cent, while in central Alaska the increase was approximately 44 per 

 cent. A considerable number of the traps in the latter district, 

 especially in the Cook Inlet region, were hand driven or stake traps 

 located on tide lands, on which, under the provisions of recent Terri- 

 torial legislation, a much smaller license tax was imposed than on the 

 pile driven and floating traps. In southeastern Alaska there is a 

 continued trend toward the use of floating traps instead of driven 

 traps. 



The number of independent traps operated by other than salmon 

 canneries increased at a slightly higher rate than did the number 

 operated by canneries. Of the 575 traps operated in southeastern 

 Alaska in 1927, 170 were independent traps, as compared with 141 

 out of a total of 481 operated there in 1926. For all of Alaska, out 

 of a total of 799 traps used in the salmon industry in 1927, 604 were 

 operated by salmon canneries and 195 by individuals and companies 

 not operating canneries. The comparable total of these independent 

 traps in 1926 was 153, 



CATCH AND APPARATUS 



The total number of seines used in the salmon industry of Alaska 

 in 1927 was 593, of which 97 were beach seines and 496 purse seines. 

 The beach seines aggregated 13,570 fathoms of webbing and the purse 

 seines 81,663 fathoms. The number of gill nets used was 3,037, 

 having a total length of 301,763 fathoms. There were 282 driven 

 traps and 517 floating traps — a total of 799. 



Southeastern Alaska was accredited with 396 seines, or a total of 

 72,458 fathoms of webbing, a decrease of 13 seines but only 198 

 fathoms from the number in 1926; also with 199 gill nets, aggregating 

 25,979 fathoms, an increase of 15 nets or 929 fathoms; and with 101 

 driven and 474 floating traps, 13 fewer driven traps but 107 more 

 floating traps than were operated in 1926. 



Corresponding figures for central Alaska show 185 seines or 20,175 

 fathoms, as compared with 210 seines or 24,045 fathoms in 1926; 



