114 U. S. BUREAU OP FISHERIES 



western Fisheries Co.'s ship St. Paul, which had transported it from 

 Seattle to Chignik. On May 21 work was resumed at the rack. 

 High water made the work very slow and difficult, and on June 8 a 

 part of the rack was washed out. The section was reconstructed 

 and work finally completed on July 5. 



The first salmon was noted passing up the river on June 4. Count- 

 ing began July 6, and it was therefore necessary to estimate the num- 

 ber that had passed up before the completion of the rack. Red 

 salmon ceased running on October 10, and the weir was dismantled 

 and all material stored for use another season. Including an esti- 

 mate of 115,000 red salmon believed to have ascended between June 

 4 and July 5, the total escapement for the season was computed at 

 1,010,436. Under the provisions of the act of June 6, 1924, com- 

 mercial fishing operations were stopped three times during the season, 

 from July 14 to 21, August 7 to 11, and August 21 to 25, in order to 

 permit the spawning escapement to equal the commercial catch. 

 During the latter part of the season the traps of the salmon canneries 

 took a smaller percentage of the run, and the total reported catch by 

 the three companies operating traps in Chignik waters was 867,544 

 red salmon, or approximately 46 per cent of the total run. In the 

 season of 1923 the companies took a total of 677,602 red salmon, 

 which was over three-fourths of the total run. 



It was also reported that there was a very heavy run of hump- 

 backs, but as they spawn chiefly in the creeks emptying into the 

 lagoon and bay, no count was made of the number of this species 

 passing through the rack. King salmon passing through the rack 

 numbered 424, and 109,303 coho or silver salmon were counted also. 

 Large schools of migrating young salmon were passing down the 

 river from May 15 to July 25, and small schools were seen until the 

 last of September. 



Operations at Chignik were under the general supervision of 

 Warden Charles Petry. 



KARLUK SALMON COUNT 



Plans were made for counting the escapement of red salmon to the 

 spawning grounds of Karluk River, as in the two previous seasons. 

 Work was begun on the rack in Karluk River on May 4 and it was 

 completed on May 14. The first red salmon passed through on May 

 16 and counting continued until August 21. The very large number 

 of spawned-out humpback salmon floating down the river then 

 necessitated opening the weir, and as the heavy run of humpbacks 

 continued it was impossible to close the opening again. 



The total count of red salmon passing through the weir from May 

 16 to August 21 was 775,705. The commercial catch of reds in the 

 Karluk district totaled 890,752. Wliile the escapement up to August 

 21 was less than this number, more than enough salmon ascended 

 later to exceed the commercial catch and thus easily meet the require- 

 ment of law as to an escapement of 50 per cent of spawning salmon 

 where racks are maintained. 



Operations at Karluk were under the general supervision of Fred 

 R. Lucas, superintendent of the Afognak hatchery. 



