PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1935 415 



Hence one of Mr, Christey's first accomplishments in this new inves- 

 tigation was to make a thorough and exhaustive search for all data 

 previous to 1930. Effort was made to contact all packing companies 

 operating at the present time or in the past. While the catch records 

 of some liquidated companies have been detroyed, sufficient data 

 have been obtained to insure an adequate sample from 1907 to the 

 present date. In addition to securing old records, it has been possible 

 to contact the trap operators and impress them with the value of 

 this work. The daily catch record was secured for each trap fished 

 in southeastern Alaska in 1935. 



As time permits, this work will be expanded to include other 

 Alaska fishing areas. Considerable trap catch data have already 

 been acquired for Prince William Sound, including complete re- 

 turns for 1935. Some trap catch records also have been secured 

 for Cook Inlet, and areas on the Alaska Peninsula. It is hoped 

 that this work may be expanded to include the study of other units 

 of fishing gear, especially the gill-net fishery of Bristol Bay. 



HERRING 



The herring investigation, under the direction of Edwin H. Dahl- 

 gren, was continued during the past year. The efforts of the inves- 

 tigation were again concentrated in southeastern Alaska, where the 

 most productive and intensive fishery is carried on. The principal 

 aims of the investigation are to delineate the areas inhabited by each 

 of the major stocks of herring which comprise the total population 

 of the area, to evaluate the relative abundance of each of these stocks, 

 and to seek causes for the fluctuations in abundance which are known 

 to occur. 



The tagging program, begun in 1932, was continued. This tagging 

 has a two-fold purpose; first, to delineate the areas inhabited by each 

 of the major populations of herring; and second, to obtain a measure, 

 of the intensity of the fishery by considering the percentage of tags 

 recovered. During the spring spawning season, tagging was carried 

 on at Craig, on the west coast of Prince of Wales Island, and in the 

 vicinity of Sitka, on the west coast of Baranof Island. As in the 

 1934 experiment, a large number of individuals were tagged in order 

 to obtain more reliable estimates of the mortality imposed by the 

 fishery. During a 3-week period 13,008 individuals were tagged at 

 Craig ; 20,157 at Sitka ; 5,141 at Kalinin Bay, 25 miles north of Sitka ; 

 and 2,613 at Redoubt Bay, 15 miles south of Sitka. 



The recovery of the tags affixed at Kalinin Bay and at Redoubt 

 Bay, along with those ajfixed at Sitka show that these populations 

 intermingle on the Cape Ommaney feeding grounds, and comprise 

 a single stock of herring. The recovery of 86 tags affixed at the 

 Sitka area, as well as 74 tags affixed at Craig, from Warren Channel, 

 confirmed the findings of the previous year that there is an inter- 

 mingling of Craig and Sitka fish in this area. On tlie other hand, 

 failure to recover Craig tags in the Cape Ommaney region, leads to 

 the conclusion that there is no counter migration of Craig fish to 

 Cape Ommaney. 



A method for the detection of the tags to supplant the present' 

 magnetic recovery system was tried out during the season — a method 

 whereby the individual bearing the tag may be selected from the 



