80 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



July 14, and all limit flags were down the following day. Good catches con- 

 tinuetl to be made occasionally by fishermen from (iraveyard to the closing 

 markers up to and including the morning of July 17. On this date excep- 

 tional catches were made on the drift in the upper portion of the bay during 

 the morning flood, and the nets drifting in on that occasion were too numerous 

 to count. All apparently made good catches, but this was practically the last 

 heavy run. The movements of the fish at Egegik were similar. 



At Ugashik no heavy run occurred throughout the season. Fish entered 

 slowly through early July, increasing in numbers toward the middle of the 

 month and falling oE to extremely small numbers on July 21. with discourag- 

 ing prospects and but little fishing resulting from that date to the end of the 

 season. 



On the Nushagak side the run was small and at no time a.ssuraed encourag- 

 ing proportions. A light run set in on June 28 and continued slow until July 

 6, when it increased greatly in volume. The heavier portion of the run was 

 of short duration, however, extending over a period of less than two days, when 

 it dropped back again to small numbers and continued small to the end of 

 the season. 



Slightly over 1,200,000 cases were packed in Bristol Bay through the season. 

 87 per cent of which were taken from the Naknek-Kvichak section, the re- 

 mainder being divided between the Egegik, Ugashik, and Nushagak districts. 



PATROt 



The patrol was conducted as formerly and was most effective throughout 

 the season. Launches were used in the Kvichak, Naknek, Nushagak. Igushik. 

 and Ugashik districts, with two men on each boat, while one man with a dory 

 and Evinrude constituted the Egegik patrol. Two launches were used in the 

 early part of the season in the Ugashik River, but a scarcity of help reduced 

 this patrol to one boat when the season was partly over. Good work was 

 accomplished by this boat and tliere was less illegal fishing than during any 

 previous season. 



The bureau's boat Scoter kept in touch with the different patrol boats, super- 

 vising and directing the work. This boat was imder the direction of the writer 

 until his departure on July 15, when Warden A. T. Looff assumed charge. 



Seven boats were reported for law violations and four cases were tried at 

 Valdez. On account of being exceedingly busy, the marshal was unable to 

 place fishermen of the other three boats under arrest before the departure of 

 their ships, and charges went by default. 



Close watch was kept on the fishermen to prevent red-salmon fishing before 

 midnight of June 25 and later than midnight of July 25. During the season 

 many nets were removed from the rivers above the dead line and a number 

 were destroyed. 



ESCAPEiiENT 



The writer left Bristol Bay July 15, proceeding via Uiamna Lake and across 

 ("ook Inlet to Seldovia, meeting the bureau's boat Eider at that point, for an 

 extended trip of inspection through the Alaska Peninsula Fisheries Reservation, 

 in company with Dr. C. H. Gilbert, special assistant, and Dr. Willis H. Rich, 

 chief of the division of scientific inquiry of the Bureau of Fisheries. After 

 completing this inspection the Eider with party returned to Iliamna Bay August 

 19. Doctor Rich and the writer proceeded from that point over the portage to 

 Iliamna Village and embarked on patrol boat No. 3 for the purpose of making 

 a trip around the lake to observe the spawning areas at about the same dates 

 as in previous years. All the principal spawning grounds in Iliamna were 

 visited and checked against previous years. 



A trip was made first with dory and outboard motor up Iliamna River about 

 6 miles. No large numbers of fish were noted at any point, with the excep- 

 tion of a short sti-etch just above the Indian village, and the greater portion 

 of the spawning in the stream was confined to this area. The stream as a 

 whole was poorly stocked, and although in excess of 1920 and 1921, when very 

 few salmon spawned in this stream, the number was far below that of 1922. 

 An excess of spawners was reported last year throughout the district, there 

 being two to three times more than necessary for capacity seeding on some 



