132 KEPUilT UF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



INVESTIGATION OP INTERIOR W^ATERS. 

 ALASKA. 



In the last report rciereuce Avas made to the organization of an ex- 

 ploring party in charge of Dr. Tarletou H. Bean, for the investigation 

 of certain Alaskan salmon rivers, in pnrsnance of an act of Congress 

 approved March 2, 1880. This act was Ijased npon the representations 

 of persons interested in the preservation of the important indnstries 

 which have been developed on the Pacilic coast, and made provisions 

 both for the protection of the salmon and for the stndy of the natural- 

 history and industrial features relating to the fisheries. The party 

 consisted of Dr. Bean, ichthyologist of the Commission; Mr. Livingston 

 Stone, superintendent of the Fish Commissicm salmon station in Cali- 

 fornia; Mr. Franklin Booth, topographical engineer, of the University 

 of California, and Mr, Robert E. Lewis, rodman and general assistant. 

 The instructions called for observations respecting the habits, distribu- 

 tion, abundance, etc., of the salmon and associated species; the phys- 

 ical characteristics of their environment; the methods, statistics, and 

 conditioiis of the fishery, and the necessities and advantages of Alaskan 

 waters for the artificial propagation of the salmon. 



The first steamer by which the party could reach Kadiak did not 

 leave Port Townsend until July 19, arriving at the former place on the 

 28th of the same month. The season suitable for fieldwork was thereby 

 greatly shortened, and it became necessary to restrict their operations 

 to the islands of Kadiak and Afognak, where, however, the principal 

 salmon lishery in Alaska was then being conducted, the catch on Kar- 

 luk Biver comiuising about (me-half tlie entire yield of the territory. 

 No examination has been made of Cook Inlet, but in 1890 the steamer 

 AllmtroHH visited the fishery at the head of Biistol Bay and obtained 

 some important information respecting tlie methods there employed, as 

 explained below. Kadiak Island, however, attbrded the means fbr mak- 

 ing a very satisfa(;tory study of the problem, and the results obtained, 

 combined with x)revious observations, esi)ecially on the habits of the 

 salmon, have enabled Dr. Bean to reyort in full upon the questions 

 proposed by Congress.* 



Examinations were made of Karluk Iliver and Lake, including the 

 open bay into Avhich the former empties; of Uyak Bay adjacent to Kar- 

 luk, on the northern side of the island; of Alitak and Olga bays at the 

 southeastern end of the island, and of Afognak J>ay (ui the island of the 

 same name, including in the case of each bay the small salmon rivers 

 which empty into them. 



* Report on the salmon and salmon rivers of Alaska, with notes on tlio conditions, 

 nn'thods, a.id needs of \^w salmon lisheries. By Tarletou H. IJeau. Bull. U. S. Fisli 

 Comm., IX, 1889, pp. 1G5-208, pis. xi-v-lxxix. 



