362 U. S. BUREAU OP FISHERIES 



pond rearing will contribute materially to the resistance of the fin- 

 gerlings to disease and natural enemies. Because of the vigorous 

 growth and low mortality exhibited by these fish during the period 

 of pond rearing, the State department of fisheries has determined 

 to continue this procedure next summer wherever practical at the rest 

 of their stations. 



STATISTICAL STUDY OF SALMON FISHERIES IN PUGET SOUND REGION 



During the latter half of 1934, Dr. Rounsefell and Mr. Kelez, in 

 charge of the red salmon and coho investigations on Puget Sound, 

 collected a great mass of statistical data of the catches of salmon of 

 all species by all types of gear in the Puget Sound region as well as 

 from Swiftsure Bank and the Fraser River. This included daily 

 lifts of salmon traps from 1897 to date, of daily seine boat deliveries 

 both from Puget Sound and from Swiftsure Bank from 1912 to date, 

 and individual gill-net catches of over half of all of the gill nets 

 operating on the Fraser River from 1929 to date. Several important 

 features of the fishery were so well covered by these data that a 

 preliminary report was made entitled, "Abundance, seasonal occur- 

 rence, and development of the salmon fisheries of Swiftsure Bank, 

 Puget Sound, and the Fraser River." 



This report gives a brief summary of the history and development 

 of each type of fishing gear, where it has been fished, and the num- 

 bers used. The earliest fishery was chiefly with gill nets in the 

 Fraser, Later came traps and small inefficient purse seines in Puget 

 Sound. The purse seines increased steadily in efficiency after the 

 introduction of gasoline motors in 1903 until the present modern 

 Diesel-powered boat was reached. The amount of fishing gear 

 reached its peak during the World War, descended to a very low level 

 from 1922 to 1924, and then increased slowly but steadily to date. 

 The ocean fishing on Swiftsure Bank with purse seines began in 

 1911 and quickly reached large proportions. 



Studies of the seasonal occurrence of each species of salmon showed 

 that in the traps in Puget Sound the king salmon run very early, 50 

 percent being taken before the others have really commenced to 

 appear. The red salmon run next, followed a month later by the 

 pinks. The cohos and chums run later than the rest. In the purse 

 seines in Puget Sound all species are taken somewhat later than in 

 the traps. This is especially true of the chums. On Swiftsure Bank 

 most of the species are taken at the same time as in Puget Sound, 

 with the exception of the cohos. Large schools of feeding cohos in 

 their third year that are only half as large as they would be if caught 

 later in the season are purse seined early in the season. The number 

 of cohos on the bank fall off as the catches of larger cohos increase 

 inside of Puget Sound. In the Fraser River the season is somewhat 

 more extended than in Puget Sound and the fish appear to run later. 



A detailed study of abundance shows that the red salmon, although 

 not as abundant in the " big " year cycle as formerly, appear on the 

 whole to be increasing gradually since the low point reached during 

 the period 1920 to 1925 resulting from the combination of overfishing 

 during the World War, and the blockade of most of the spawning 

 grounds in 1913 and 1914 by the slide in Hell's Gate Canyon. 



