462 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



' Work not carried on thi.-; year. 



Snake River, a tributary of Nushagak Bay, is about 30 miles in 

 length, very crooked, and has its rise in a single lake close by Alekna- 

 gik Lake. There is an Indian village on the river just below the lake. 

 Red salmon are abundant m this stream. 



Igushik River is about 50 miles in length and enters Nushagak Bay 

 about 4 miles above Nichols HiUs. So far as known it has its source 

 in tw^o lakes — Amanka and Ualik. A short distance below the first 

 lake there are rapids and a small falls. The quite large Indian village 

 of Yacherk is located here, and the natives do most of their fishing in 

 the rapids. Peter M. Nelson established a saltery about 10 or 12 

 miles above its mouth in 1902, and operated it until he sold it to the 

 Alaska Fishermen's Packing Co., who have operated it smce. There 

 is a small Indian village close by the saltery. 



Nushagak Bay, in which practically all the fishing is carried on, 

 is about 35 miles long and from 5 to 15 miles in width. Sand bars 

 and mud flats, which are visible at low water, occupy the greater 

 part of its area. 



The drift gill net is the favorite apparatus in this bay, although a 

 few traps were also used in previous years. The fish begin to run 

 very early here. Kings usually appear about June 5, reds about 

 June 5 to 8, cohos either late in June or early in July, chum salmon 

 about the middle of June, and humpbacks about the same tune. The 

 reds do not run in large numbers until late in June. 



Considerable fishing was carried on in both the Nushagak and 

 Wood Rivers until in 1908, when, as a result of a hearing held by 

 the Secretary of Commerce and Labor on December 16 and 17, 1907, 

 it was decreed that beginning January 1, 1908, "it is hereby ordered 

 that until further notice Wood River, a tributary of Nushagak Bay, 

 in the district of Alaska, and the region within 500 yards of the 

 mouth of said Wood River be closed to all commercial fishing, and 

 that all commercial fishing be prohibited in Nushagak River proper." 



The earliest fishing by whites in the Bristol Bay section was for 

 salting purposes by the trading companies, more particularly the 

 Alaska Commercial Co., which had an important station at Fort 

 Alexander on Nushagak Bay. Petroft", in the census report of 1880, 

 refers to exports from this section of "from 800 to 1,200 barrels of 

 salted salmon per annum from the Nushagak River." 



In 1883 the schooner Neptune visited the Nushagak on a salting 

 trip. The next year the Arctic Packing Co. erected a cannery here 

 and made a trial pack of 400 cases. This was the first cannery to 

 operate in Bering Sea. It was located close to the Moravian mission. 



