ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1920. 47 



trict in 1920 has been exceeded but once, and then in 1918, when the 

 necessities of war seemed to demand the laro;est possible output. 



Results in the Bristol Ba.y district of western Alaska show an 

 improvement over 1919. To a large extent the increased pack was 

 due to a much larger run of salmon in the Port Moller region than 

 for several years. The j^ack in other parts of western Alaska, par- 

 ticularly the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, was less than in 1919. 



SALMON CATCH AND FORMS OF GEAR. 



Approximately 99 per cent of the commercial catch of salmon in 

 Alaska in 1920 was made by seines, gill nets, and pound nets, while 

 less than 1 per cent Avas taken with dip nets, lines, and wheels. Rec- 

 ords show that T12 seines were used in 1920, the total length of which 

 was 117,111 fathoms. This is 88 less than the number operated in 

 1919. and a decrease of 20,173 fathoms in the total length of seines. 

 Of the number used, southeast Alaska was credited with 510, central 

 Alaska with 189, and western Alaska with 13. There v.ere 88,013 

 fathoms of seine webbing used in southeast Alaska, and the average 

 length of each seine was 172 fathoms; in central Alaska 25,698 

 fathoms were used, the average i)er seine being 130 fathoms; in 

 western Alaska 3,400 fathoms were operated, with an average of 261 

 fathoms per seine. 



Statistics show that 4,597 gill nets, having a total length of 475,214 

 fathoms, were used in the salmon hsheries of Alaska in 1920. Of this 

 number. 351 nets, or 41,780 fathoms of webbing, were used in south- 

 east Alaska; 1,469 nets, or 89,217 fathoms, were used in central 

 Alaska; and 2,777 nets, or 34-4,217 fathoms, were operated in western 

 Alaska. This is an increase of 477 gill nets, or 15,277 fathoms, over 

 the number used in 1919, when 4,120 nets, or 459,937 fathoms of 

 webbing, were operated. 



Statistics also show that 653 pound nets were operated in the 

 salmon industry in 1920, as compared with 630 in 1919. There were 

 445 driven traps, a decrease of 39, and 208 floating traps, an increase 

 of 62. Southeast Alaska leads with 287 driven traps, 14 less than in 

 1919, and 197 floating traps, an increase of 54 over the number used 

 in the preceding season; central Alaska had 150 driven and 11 float- 

 ing traps, which was, respectively, 22 less and 8 more than the 

 number used in 1919; western Alaska had 8 driven traps, or 3 less 

 than in 1919. The rapidly increasing use of floating traps in south- 

 east and central Alaska and the decreasing use of pile traps in all 

 districts are noteworthy developments of the year. 



Considering Alaska as a whole, the number of fathoms of seines 

 used in 1920 was approximately 15 per cent less than in 1919; there 

 was an increase of 3 per cent in the number of fathoms of gill nets 

 and 3?j per cent increase in the numljer of pound nets operated in 1920 

 over that of 1919. 



C)f the total catch of galmon in 1920, seines took 26§ per cent, gill 

 nets approximately 20 per cent, and pound nets approximately 53 per 

 cent. In 1919 the catch l)y apparatus was: Seines 36 per cent, gill 

 nets 19 per cent, and poimd nets 42 per cent. The change in 1920 was 

 a decrea.se in catch by seines of 9^ })er cent and an inciease by gill 

 nets of 1 per cent and by pound nets of 11 per cent. The following 



