ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES 295 
SALMON TAGGING 
A salmon-tagging experiment was conducted in southeast Alaska 
in 1936, as in the previous year, to secure further information con- 
cerning ‘the migrations of pink salmon in Clarence and Sumner Straits. 
During closed periods from July 18 to August 16, inclusive, 2,500 
pink salmon were tagged, of which 2,000 were tagged at McLean 
Point and 500 at Point Colpoys. T he patrol vessel Murre and later 
the Kittiwake assisted in the tagging operations. A reward of 25 cents 
each was paid for the return of tags accompanied by information as 
to the date and place of recapture. The returns amounted to 38 per- 
cent of the total number of tags used. 
SALMON LIFE-HISTORY STUDIES 
Studies of the life histories and fluctuations in the abundance of 
the Pacific salmon in Alaska were continued in 1936 by the staff of 
the Fisheries Biological Station at Seattle, Wash. The major investi- 
gations of the red salmon at Karluk and of the pink salmon at Little 
Port Walter were carried on as formerly. Biological data on the red 
salmon in the Bristol Bay, Chignik, and Copper River areas were 
also collected. 
Salmon-counting weirs in the Karluk and Little Port Walter Rivers 
furnished information regarding the number of salmon that returned 
to these streams to spawn. Studies carried on at these locations 
resulted in further evidence regarding natural factors that affect the 
abundance of the salmon. 
Studies dealing with biological changes within the pink salmon due 
to sexual development, which affect the quality of the commercial 
pack, were continued in cooperation with the Seattle branch of the 
National Canners Association. The samples of pink salmon taken 
during the 1936 season are being analyzed for changes both in in- 
tensity of red coloration and in chemical composition. 
The collection, compilation, and analysis of records of the daily 
catch of salmon in Alaska by the principal types of fishing apparatus 
were continued in 1936, and provided information as to the fluctua- 
tion in abundance and time of appearance of salmon runs in the 
various districts. This information is of importance in determining 
adequate regulations for the conservation of the salmon, 
ABNORMAL CONDITION OF SALMON 
Reports were received from a number of localities about the middle 
of the 1936 fishing season that an abnormal condition had appeared in 
salmon, greatly affecting their quality. At the time this condition 
was most severe, difficulty was experienced in transporting the salmon 
catches to the canneries without spoilage. For a relatively short 
period of time some of the canneries ceased operations in order to 
maintain a high-quality pack. 
The abnormal condition of the salmon consisted in the presence of 
areas in their bodies that were highly congested with blood. These 
congested areas were found for the most part in the tail region, but in 
some cases they were present in all parts of the body. An examina- 
tion of these congested areas did not reveal any evidence of a diseased 
condition of the fish. The absence of dead or dying salmon in the 
fishing gear and along the shores in the localities where this abnormal 
