28 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



TUo bureau's work in this ro<>;i()n was in charge of Henry B. Tjoofl, 

 Mtuler the suj)ervision of Warden H. 11. Hnngerford. 



OHIGNIK RIVKK 



Construction of the Chignik weir was begun on April 25 at a point 

 10 feet below the site used in 1925. By the afternoon of May 3 all 

 of the tripods were set, but that evening large chunks of ice, some of 

 them about 50 feet square and 2^ feet thick, started coming down the 

 river, breaking six of the tripods and moving the others out of place. 

 Ice continued coming downstream for four days, and not until May 8 

 was it possible to begin resetting the tripods. In the meantime those 

 that had been carried away were collected, and new tripods were 

 built to replace the broken ones. When work on the weir was 

 resumed it was found to be considerably more difficult than at first, 

 because the river was 5 inches liigher and the stream bed had been 

 made very uneven by the action of the ice. However, by May 25 

 the river was closed so that no fish could pass upstream, and on May 31 

 the rack was completed. 



Dolly Varden trout were first seen descending the river on May 3. 

 While there were more this season than last, there were fewer than in 

 most other recent years. Fairly good numbers of young salmon 

 migrating seaward were observed, although not as many as in 1929. 

 The migration began on May 4 and was light but very steady to 

 June 14, after which it increased each day to July 7. During the 

 remainder of July it was fair, and from August 1 to August 12 there 

 was a gradual decline. 



The first red salmon ascending to the spawning grounds passed 

 through the weir on June 12, the latest date on which the run has 

 started since the counting experiment has been in progress. The run, 

 which was light throughout the season and of much shorter duration 

 than usual, was best during the period from July 18 to August 1, 

 reaching its peak on July 24, when 18,891 were counted through the 

 weir and 584 were caught commercially. The fish were small in size, 

 and a larger part of the run than usual was made up of grilse. Count- 

 ing was continued through September 23, when the total escapement 

 of red salmon numbered 441,679. In addition, 47,873 cohos and 2,030 

 kings were tallied at the weir. The runs of pink and chum salmon 

 were light and no count was made of them, as most of the fish of these 

 species spawn in streams empt3ang into the lagoon and bay below the 

 weir. 



By departmental regulations commercial fishing for salmon in the 

 Chignik area is prohibited prior to June 1 and after October 1. The 

 scarcity of salmon, however, necessitated stringent curtailment of 

 fishing operations. Only three traps were operated in Chignik Bay 

 and Lagoon, one of which was brailed first on July 9, one on July 16, 

 and one on July 18; while all were brailed for tlie last time on August 

 11. The total reported catch of red salmon from the Chignik run 

 was 20,768. Warden Charles Petry was in charge of the bureau's 

 work at Chignik. 



AYAKULIK OR RED RIVER 



The work of erecting the Red River weir was begun on May 21 

 and completed in time to make the first count of salmon on May 27. 

 A few reds and kings had appeared in the stream on May 23. The 

 weir was maintained until the close of September 2, at which time a 



