38 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1919. 



SALMON INDUSTRY. 



The situation in southeast Alaska is serious. It is certain that 

 under present conditions, a repetition of the astounding production 

 of 1918 could not reasonably be expected, nor could it be assumed 

 that there would be a progressive increase in pack with the passing 

 seasons. Fluctuations in runs, which in themselves should not be 

 regarded as absolute indicators of conditions, will occur, but a les- 

 sened catch is not to be dismissed as an unimportant development 

 in the situation. A diminished catch, together with an inadequate 

 escapement of salmon to the spawning grounds, presents what may 

 be a serious condition of the fisheries, one which should receive the 

 careful and thoughtful attention of both the Government and the 

 packers. It is a recognized fact that in the southeast district salmon 

 fisher}^ operations are becoming more intensified each season, seines 

 and traps alike being employed in greater numbers than before, and 

 other movable appliances being operated more assiduously as the 

 years go by. In view of these things, it is a logical conclusion that 

 the industry can not hold its present position, much less grow, unless 

 some provision is made for the replenishment of the fisheries. 



Central Alaska, which is of much greater extent than either of the 

 other districts, embraces some localities that showed a greatly reduced 

 production of salmon in 1919, while other regions yielded approxi- 

 mately as many fish as in 1918, but for the district as a whole there 

 was a heavy falling off sufficient to attract more than passing notice. 

 A comparison of the packs in 1918 and 1919 shows that the shrinkage 

 was largely in the catch of humpback and chum salmon and that the 

 localities most seriously affected were Prince William Sound, Cook 

 Inlet, and Kodiak Island waters. Though the decfine was felt in aU 

 sections of the district, there is less cause for concern over the situa- 

 tion here than elsewhere in Alaska. 



The season of 1919 was markedly a failure in western Alaska. The 

 shrinkage in production was approximately 67 per cent, and it 

 affected both canning and pickling operations. The pack of canned 

 salmon was the smallest that has been made since 1900 and was 62 

 per cent less than in 1918. On the basis that the salmon of 1919 

 were four-year fish, a comparison with the pack in 1915 shows a drop 

 of 48 per cent; if they were five-year fisii, a comparison with the 

 pack in 1914 shows a decline of 58 per cent. These percentages 

 would have been higher were it not that the pack in 1919 included 

 57,085 cases of Yukon River salmon, whereas the packs of 1914 and 

 1915 did not include any Yukon salmon. 



The cause of this sudden and serious falling off in the salmon runs 

 of western Alaska, and especially Bristol Bay, is not known, but in 

 the absence of a better reason it may be attributed to overfishing in 

 recent years. Apparently it was not a question of delayed runs, but 

 seems to have been due to a real scarcity of salmon. Some persons 

 have held that the exhaustion of the salmon fisheries is practically 

 impossible, but to those taking a broad view of the situation this 

 breakdown of the run of red salmon is acceptable evidence of the 

 fallacy of any theory that the runs arc impregnable. 



The records of the Bristol Bay district for the last 20 years afford 

 a basis for serious study. At first glance they show that the drain 

 on the red-salmon rim has been steadily increasing, larger numbers 



