REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 41 



Counts of red salmon ascending to their spawning grounds were 

 made on Karluk and Chignik Rivers in the season of 1922 and are 

 being renewed in the season of 1923. Inasmuch as these streams af- 

 ford an excellent opportunity for determining the commercial catch 

 of salmon and at the same time enable satisfactory results in count- 

 ing salmon passing upstream, it is felt that reliable information as 

 to the percentage of escapement necessary to perpetuate the runs 

 without diminution can be developed eventually. This will necessi- 

 tate counts over a series of years. Similar counting operations 

 Avere inaugurated in the season of 1923 on Nelson River, flowing 

 into Herendeen Bay, but were abandoned on account of physical 

 difficulties, and on two streams tributary to Alitak Bay on Kodiak 

 Island. 



Under the direction of Dr. C. H. Gilbert, important investiga- 

 tions were made in western Alaska in 1922 and will be continued 

 upon a larger scale through the season of 1923, with a view to deter- 

 mining migration routes of salmon. Interesting information has 

 already' resulted in this connection from the tagging of 4,000 red 

 salmon at Ikatan Bay and other waters of that general region in 

 1922. "While most of the fish subsequently recaptured were taken 

 in the vicinity where tagged, a number were secured in Bristol Bay 

 and a few on Cook Inlet, and one even on the Kuskokwim River. 



A party remained over the winter in the Nushagak region to in- 

 vestigate the salmon-spawning grounds and endeavor to ascertain the 

 size of the escapement in 1922. A specialist was sent to the Cook 

 Inlet district in the season of 1923 to investigate the extent of the 

 clam beds and thus secure data as a basis for the proper regulation 

 of the fisher3\ A study of the salmon fishery of the Kuskokwim 

 River was made in 1922, and the destruction of predatory fishes in 

 streams tributary to Bristol Bay was again conducted along lines 

 followed in recent years. 



PROTECTION OF WALRUS AND SEA LIONS. 



No changes were made in the walrus and sea lion regulations issued 

 ^pril 21, 1921, nor were any violations reported during the year. 



NEW LEGISLATION NEEDED. 



The fisheries of Alaska are being administered under the provisions 

 of the act of June 26, 1906. This law is wholly inadequate and there 

 is urgent need of new legislation to meet present-day conditions. 

 The expansion of the fishery and modifications in methods make 

 effective conservation impossible in many sections. This situation 

 has been brought to attention repeatedly but so far without avail, 

 and it is earnestly hoped that at its next session Congress will afford 

 the desired relief. \Vliile the situation has been helped through the 

 creation of reservations by Executive order, that expedient is re- 

 garded merely as a temporary measure pending the enactment of the 

 legislation necessary for adequate control of a gi-ave situation. To 

 [hose who have opposed fishery reservations upon grounds of prin- 

 ciple, the answer is that the fishery must be saved now and the reser- 

 vation policy is the only possible means until Congress acts. The 



