FISHERY INDUSTRIES. 39 
ever made; it shows the largest pack of chums in the history of the 
industry; the largest pack of humpbacks and kings save the season 
of 1915; and that the pack of reds was exceeded only by that of 
1914. The mild-cure and frozen-salmon industries, which have their 
chief centers in southeastern Alaska, showed good gains over 1915. 
The fresh-salmon industry declined somewhat because of greater 
demands for canning purposes. 
The events of largest moment in central Alaska were the tremen- 
dous run of humpbacks generally throughout the district and the 
particularly heavy run of red salmon at Karluk and the south end 
of Kodiak Island. The result was the largest pack of salmon ever 
made in central Alaska, the increase in this district over the previous 
high record of 1914 being more than 400,000 cases, made up chiefly 
of humpbacks, although there was a larger pack of all species except 
kings. 
The western district of Alaska is the chief producer of red salmon. 
The season of 1916 shows a noteworthy increase over that of 1915. 
Beginning with 1912 the run of red salmon in western Alaska has been 
remarkably constant, and notwithstanding the lighter run of 1915 
the average catch for the five seasons is 19,860,000. ‘The approexi- 
mate catch in 1916 was 19,600,000, which compares very favorably 
with the catch of 1913 and 1914, when approximately 21,500,000 were 
taken each season. The catch in 1916 was larger than in 1915 by 
about 3;000,000 red salmon. The salmon-pickling industry, which 
’ is confined chiefly to the western district, shows a substantial increase 
in the product as compared with 1915. 
SALMON CATCH AND FORMS OF GEAR. 
The principal kinds of fishing apparatus used in the salmon industry 
of Alaska are seines, gill nets, and pound nets. Purse and haul seines 
numbering 434 and aggregating 75,080 fathoms of webbing were 
operated in 1916. This is a gain of 72 over 1915, when 362 were 
used. Southeast Alaska is credited with an increase of 20, central 
Alaska with 17, and western Alaska with 35. 
The total number of gill nets operated in the salmon industry was 
3,051, of an aggregate length of 412,595 fathoms. Western Alaska 
leads with 1,986 gill nets, southeast Alaska is second with 560, while 
central Alaska takes last place with 505. 
There were 306 driven and 67 floating pound nets, or a total of 
373 pound nets operated in the salmon industry of Alaska in 1916, 
an increase of 89 over 1915. Of the aggregate number used, 188 
driven and 67 floating pound nets, or a total of 255, were located in 
southeast Alaska, 94 driven pound nets were operated in central 
Alaska, and 24 driven pound nets in western Alaska. In 1916 the 
gains by districts were: Southeast Alaska, 51 driven and 19 floating 
