PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 421 



The above is also true to a certain extent of the waters of British 

 Cohmihia and Fuget Sound and to a lesser extent, so far as has been 

 disclosed, of Monterey Bay and the Oregon coast. 



It has been known for some years that, the silver, or coho, salmon 

 would also take the hook under practically the same conditions as the 

 king salmon, and the only reason this species has not been fished for 

 to the same extent as the king has been because it was not large 

 enough to be attractive to the mild curers, and hence there was a 

 much lesser demand for it. 



It had been supposed that the other species did not feed when in 

 coastal waters, but Marsh and Cobb ^ state quite differently: 



Other species of salmon, in addition to the king, are found to take the trolling 

 hook. For several weeks in July troUers in Union Bay, in southeast Alaska, 

 caught a number of cohos and humpbacks while trolling for kings. The hump- 

 backs were caught mainly with a sj^oon, no bait being used. Most of them 

 appeared to have been feeding on needlefish and herring, according to the cutter 

 who dressed them. A few red salmon are reported to have been caught on the 

 trolling line by fishermen operating for king salmon in the neighborhood of Mary 

 Island, near Dixon Entrance. Several fishermen report having in previous years 

 frequently taken dog [chum] salmon on a hook in the bays along Chatham Strait. 



In 1909 Mr. J. R. Heckman, of Ketchikan, Alaska, a well-knowTi 

 cannery man, told the writer that, while he was trying to install a 

 floating trap near Cape Chacon, at the low^er end of Prince of Wales 

 Island, southeast Alaska, he on several occasions observed red salmon 

 feeding on what he called a red shrimp. 



This was also observed in 1912, when Doctor Gilbert reported, in 

 connection with his observations of salmon fishing on Swiftsure Bank, 

 off the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, that "during the past summer it 

 was observed by Mr. J. P. Babcock and the writer that the sockeye on 

 the Bank were feeding extensively on a small shrimp-like crustacean 

 (Thysanoessa spinifera, Holmes), which floats in incredible numbers 

 on the tides and forms a favorite food for the other species as well as 

 for the sockeye." ^° He also found all the other species feeding vora- 

 ciously in this neighborhood. 



The experience of the fishermen operating in and ofT Port Moller, 

 in Bering Sea, also affords confirmatory evidence along this line. A 

 cannery was established on Port Moller in 1913, the avowed purpose 

 of the ow^ners being to catch what they claimed would be the enor- 

 mous schools which annually resort to the great rivers of Bristol Bay, 

 some 210 miles to the eastward from Port Moller. This cannery made 

 a fairly large pack for a season or two, using purse seines in Bering 

 Sea and traps along the shore. Misled by this, three other canneries 

 were built in 1916 and 1917. In a season or two the catches of the 

 combined plants had dropped to much less than the catch of the one 

 cannery when operating alone, thus showing that the fishermen were 

 operating on a run which was local to that neighborhood. This is 

 borne out by the fact that the Bristol Bay runs showed no appreciable 

 diminution when the catch was lowest at Port Moller. The pack of 

 the Port Moller canneries for certain years was as follows: 



» The Fisheries of Alaska in 1909. By Millard C. Marsh and John N. Cobb. U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 

 Document No. 730, p. 26. Washington, 1910. 



i» The Salmon on Swiftsure Bank. By Charles H. Gilbert. Report of British Columbia Commissioner 

 of Fisheries for year ending Dec. 31, 1912, and Appendix, p. 1 16. Victoria, British Columbia. 



