150 U. S. BUKEAU OF FISHERIES. 



Not all the screening out of the larger sizes and the net marking 

 was due to the operations of the canneiy. Natives in the lower river 

 also fish for king salmon with nets, but the extent of their operations 

 is so very small compared with that of the cannery in 1919 that the 

 effect was negligible. Fishermen interviewed stated that they had 

 in previous years seen a few net-marked fish prior to the opening 

 of the cannery, but never anything to compare with the condition 

 observed in 1919. The prevalence of small-sized king salmon in 

 1919, taken in connection with the extent of the net marking, may 

 justly be considered a measure of the closeness with which these 

 salmon were fished in 1919. 



What was true of the king salmon was true also, it is believed, of 

 the run of chums. Fishing for these was prosecuted during the 

 months of June. July, and August. Conditions at the mouth of the 

 river were comparatively favorable for a maximum catch through- 

 out the season. As the salmon move back and forth with the tides, 

 passing up and down the banks where nets are staked, and loitering 

 in the eddies where other nets are anchored, the cannery gear has 

 repeated chances to ensnare them. One of the principal deficiencies 

 in the 1919 run in the upper river was the almost total failure of 

 the " silvers." These, it will be recalled, are the bright chums of high 

 quality which run after the king salmon have passed. It was to 

 these that the cannery devoted its attention after the king salmon 

 nets had been retired. In 1919 the king salmon run had materially 

 declined by July 5, and it was after this date that 272,717 out of the 

 total 357,081 small salmon (principally chums) were taken. It is 

 considered certain that the operations of the cannery in 1919 very 

 materially added to the scarcity of fish on the river. Had the fish 

 captured by the cannery been free to enter the river, the run would 

 still have been below the normal size, but the distress and incon- 

 venience occasioned to the interior of Alaska by the salmon short- 

 age would have been largely mitigated. 



EFFECT OF CANNERY IN 1920. 



The run of 1920 has been universally approved by fishermen as 

 the most favorable since 1916. Salmon were abundant, of good 

 average size, and of excellent quality. Some fishermen acclainied 

 it the largest run they had ever seen on the river, but the majority 

 called it a fair average run of the better class of years. Certain it 

 was there was no necessary lack of dried salmon anywhere on the- 

 main river as far upstream as Dawson. Some complaint was heard 

 of insufficient fish supply on the Yukon Flats in the vicinity of 

 Fort Yukon, and it was noted in certain native villages between 

 Circle and Forty-Mile that scant provision seemed to have been made 

 for the winter. But it was not evident that there was any lack of 

 salmon. All white fishermen and some natives in these districts made 

 good catches and reported the fish abundant. At Dawson, where 

 serious complaints were heard the previous year, sufficient supplies 

 were secured in 1920. Such slackness as apparently existed in 

 certain native camps may find its explanation perhaps partly in the 

 effects of the " flu," which ravaged some of these communities in 

 the spring of the year, partly in superabundance of money, owing 

 to high prices received for muskrat pelts, and partly, in some com- 



