XVIII REPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES 



PACIFIC COAST FISHERIES 



A large part of the scientific work of the bureau on the west coast 

 has been devoted to the sahnon fislieries of the coastal States and 

 Alaska. These are among the most valuable fisheries of the world, 

 producing annually from five to seven million cases of the canned 

 product, valued at from fOrty to fifty million dollars. They have 

 been prosecuted with growing intensity for many decades, and the 

 serious results of overfishing are all too apparent in many places. 

 In certain streams the runs have been practically wiped out, and in 

 others they have become so reduced that it has seemed desirable to 

 entirely close certain areas to fishing for a length of time sufficient 

 to permit the building up of the runs. If these fisheries are to be 

 jn-operly conserved for future generations prompt action is neces- 

 sary, and such action must be based on reliable biological informa- 

 tion. In the case of the salmon fisheries of Alaska the entire care 

 of these resources is vested in the Department of Commerce, acting 

 through the Bureau of Fisheries, and it is especiall}^ incumbent upon 

 us to provide protection that will be ample and yet interfere as 

 little as possible with the industry. The regulations that have been 

 imposed were based on the best biological information available, and 

 at the same time an effort has been made to increase this knowledge 

 to the end that the regidations may better fit the needs. It is espe- 

 cially necessary to determine which streams contain the more impor- 

 tant spawning areas and to establish the relation of these to the 

 productive fishing centers. 



In order to ascertain these facts extensive tagging experiments 

 have been conducted since 1922. During that year and the following 

 one such experiments were carried on in the Ikatan-Shumagin 

 Island district, with the result that the runs of red salmon in this 

 region were found to originate in Bristol Bay, where a very intensive 

 fishery is conducted. This fact was given consideration in the 

 regulations. 



During 1924 tagging operations were conducted in southeastern 

 Alaska, where the relationship between the various runs is extremely 

 complicated. The results were not entirely satisfactory, due in part 

 to the relatively small number of fish tagged. These experiments 

 are being repeated during the season of 1925, when it is planned to 

 attach 20,000 tags. 



For a number of years weirs have been maintained in several im- 

 portant salmon streams for the purpose of determining the escape- 

 ment to the spawning grounds. During 1924 such weirs were main- 

 tained in Karluk, Letnik (Afognak), and Chignik Rivers, and in 

 streams tributary to Alitak and Yes Bays. Distinct fisheries are 

 maintained near the mouths of the rivers named, and accurate data 

 are available as to the catch. Thes:^ data, together with the escape- 

 ment counts, give a reliable measure of the total run, and from such 

 experiments as these we may expect ultimately to learn the per- 

 centage of escapement necessary to maintain the stock. 



In several of the more important streams extensive scale samples 

 were taken, and a study of these should provide important informa- 

 tion as to the relative success of the various spawning seasons. An 

 especially intensive study has been undertaken of the Karluk River, 

 one of the more important of the salmon streams of Alaska. Con- 



