REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 85 
pound nets so that ownership could be determined. In most cases 
a plea of guilty was entered and fines were imposed. 
CENSUS OF RED SALMON IN WOOD RIVER. 
The Bureau has continued to make the annual count of the red 
salmon passing up Wood River to their spawning grounds in Lake 
Aleknagik. The 1917 census, conducted as in previous years, and 
with the usual indispensable assistance of the Alaska Packers Asso- 
ciation and the Alaska-Portland Packers’ Association, showed an 
escapement from the active fishing in the Nushagak River of 
1,081,508 red fish between June 26 and August 1. The heaviest runs 
occurred on July 11 to 14, inclusive, when 529,588 fish were counted. 
The purpose of this census has been fully explained in previous 
reports. The results since its inception have been as follows: 
Number. Number 
TUS OS Dara Ie eee Se PE IGOO G50) ih) Old Le AEA: Ae ee ee 753, 109 
UO ORR a Se AES Se Fei yd ot SOS LAS SoG Ail boy baie) See as tea ey tet 259, 341 
AON eee ey AE Aa Oe G(059 044-1916 on SE eet ee bess 551, 959 
le delewemer 2s SMR eee er SO4, 290" LOL 2 ee ere Se eee 1, 081, 508 
TCO Ue Ss Re Ope es Dee 325, 264 
FISHERY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE. 
The Bureau has continued to carry out the wishes of the Legisla- 
ture of Alaska, as set forth in a memorial asking that the Bureau of 
Fisheries, in conjunction with the Washington-Alaska Military 
Cable and Telegraph System, arrange to have the prices of fresh 
fish at Seattle and Ketchikan bulletined every day at the cable office’ 
of every town on the Alaska coast where fishing vessels call for the 
purpose of shipping fish southward and to have once a week the 
prices of salt fish of the varieties caught in Alaska waters bulletined 
at the cable offices of the Alaska coast. The War Department, which 
operates the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph Sys- 
tem, expressed its willingness to receive, transmit, and post bulletins 
furnished by the Bureau of Fisheries, and early in July, 1917, the 
service was initiated, the information thus furnished including (1) 
the forwarding each day, Sundays and holidays excepted, to Juneau, 
Petersburg, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Sitka, Valdez, Seward, Cordova, 
and Skagway the noon Seattle prices for fresh halibut, sablefish, and 
red rockfish; (2) inclusion with the Seattle quotations on Monday of 
each week the prices of pickled sablefish, salmon, and herring; and 
(3) the furnishing from Ketchikan of local information, correspond- 
ing to that furnished from Seattle, to the other Alaska towns supplied 
with the Seattle quotations. The purpose of this service is to keep 
the fishermen of this remote coast in touch with market conditions, 
so that they may dispose of their catches more profitably, and thereby 
be induced to increase the production of fish. The service has met 
with general favor. 
FISHERY EXPLOITATION WORK. s 
The success which attended the Alaska work of the Bureau in the 
fishing season of 1917 in distributing literature and sending special 
assistants to the field to demonstrate practical operations, particularly 
