58 tr. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



BERING SEA. 



Bristol Bay. — The great redfish producing!: section of the world is 

 in the Bristol Bay portion of Bering Sea. This bayhes in the eastern 

 section of Bering Sea, inside of a line drawn from Port Moller to Cape 

 Ncwenham, and a niunber of important rivers debouch mto it, in all 

 of which the annual runs of salmon, especially reds, are important. 



Bristol Bay is considerably off the line of steamship travel, and as 

 a result the companies operating here are compelled to have ships in 

 which to bring up their employees and supplies in the spring and to 

 take back the men and prepared products m the late summer or 

 early fall when the season has ended. 



Cannery ships belonging to the Nushagak plants are taken into the 

 bay and anchored as near the canneries as possible. Owing to shoals 

 this can not be done on Kvichak Bay and the Naknek and Ugaguk 

 Rivers. In the early days of the fisheries the ships running to the 

 latter camieries were brought as close to the plants as possible, im- 

 loaded by means of scows, and then taken to the Nushagak for shelter. 

 When their nmnbors were too great to permit of this they were 

 moored in the open about 5 miles off the point separating Kvichak 

 Bay and Naknek River, where the anchorage is good and the vessels 

 have very little trouble in riding out storms. Usually the captain 

 and a boy arc loft aboard the ship. 



NUSHAGAK RIVER AND BAY. 



The Nushagak River, sometimes called the Tahlekuk, with its 

 tributaries, and the Wood River, which enters the head of Nushagak 

 Bay close by the mouth of the Nushagak, form a favorite resort of 

 the red salmon, while all other species also ascend them. 



But little is known of the upper courses of the Nushagak River, 

 except that they drain the region between Lakes Clark and Iliamna 

 on the east and the Kuskokwim on the west. 



The river is said to be 200 miles long to the first lake, a large one. 

 Beyond this lake there are thi'ee other smaller lakes, all coimected 

 by short stretches of river. The largest tributary of the river is the 

 Malchatna, which enters it about 100 miles from the mouth. There 

 are also Severn 1 small tributaries, two of these being Tikchik River 

 and Portage Creek. There are three or four Indian villages on the 

 Nushagak, Kaknak being the largest. A launch drawing 3 to 3^ feet 

 of water can navigate about 120 miles from the mouth. It is neces- 

 sary to use a "bidarka" to go into the upper reaches. There are four 

 rapids, around which a portage must be made in each case. 



The river on its lower course is large, and flows a groat quantity of 

 water into the head of Nushagak Bay. 



Wood River is about 24 miles long from its mouth to the first lake. 

 Shoals and bars are frequent in the river, the depth on these at low 

 water being 2^ feet and at high water 4 feet. 



Aleknagik Lake, the first of the chain of three, is about 24 miles 

 long, and has an average width of about 2 miles. 



Wood River is noted especially for the interesting counting exper- 

 iment the Bureau of Fisheries is carrying on here. This very im- 

 portant work was first taken up in 1908, as an indirect result of the 

 order closing Wood and Nushagak Rivers to the commercial fisher- 



