ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1920. 47 
trict in 1920 has been exceeded but once, and then in 1918, when the 
necessities of war seemed to demand the largest possible output. 
Results in the Bristol Bay district of western Alaska show an 
improvement over 1919. To a large extent the increased pack was 
due to a much larger run of salmon in the Port Moller region than 
for several years. The pack in other parts of western Alaska, par- 
ticularly the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, was less than in 1919. 
SALMON CATCH AND FORMS OF GEAR. 
Approximately 99 per cent of the commercial catch of salmon in 
Alaska in 1920 was made by seines, gill nets, and pound nets, while 
less than 1 per cent was taken with dip nets, lines, and wheels. Rec- 
ords show that 712 seines were used in 1920, the total length of which 
was 117,111 fathoms. This is 88 less than the number operated in 
1919, and a decrease of 20,173 fathoms in the total length of seines. 
Of the number used, southeast Alaska was credited with 510, central 
Alaska with 189, and western Alaska with 13. There were 88,013 
fathoms of seine webbing used in southeast Alaska, and the average 
length of each seine was 172 fathoms; in central Alaska 25,698 
fathoms were used, the average per seine being 136 fathoms; in 
western Alaska 3,400 fathoms were operated, with an average of 261 
fathoms per seine. 
Statistics show that 4,597 gill nets, having a total length of 475,214 
fathoms, were used in the salmon fisheries of Alaska in 1920. Of this 
number, 351 nets, or 41,780 fathoms of webbing, were used in south- 
east Alaska; 1,469 nets, or 89,217 fathoms, were used in central 
Alaska; and 2,777 nets, or 344,217 fathoms, were operated in western 
Alaska. This is an increase of 477 gill nets, or 15,277 fathoms, over 
the number used in 1919, when 4,120 nets, or 459,937 fathoms of 
webbing, were operated. 
Statistics also show that 653 pound nets were operated in the 
salmon industry in 1920, as compared with 630 in 1919. There were 
445 driven traps, a decrease of 39, and 208 floating traps, an increase 
of 62. Southeast Alaska leads with 287 driven traps, 14 less than in 
1919, and 197 floating traps, an increase of 54 over the number used 
in the preceding season; central Alaska had 150 driven and 11 float- 
ing traps, which was, respectively, 22 less and 8 more than the 
number used in 1919; western Alaska had 8 driven traps, or 3 less 
than in 1919. The rapidly increasing use of floating traps in south- 
east and central Alaska and the decreasing use of pile traps in all 
districts are noteworthy developments of the year. 
Considering Alaska as a whole, the number of fathoms of seines 
used in 1920 was approximately 15 per cent less than in 1919; there 
was an increase of 3 per cent in the number of fathoms of gill nets 
and 3% per cent increase in the number of pound nets operated in 1920 
over that of 1919. 
Of the total catch of salmon in 1920, seines took 26% per cent, gill 
nets approximately 20 per cent, and pound nets approximately 53 per 
cent. In 1919 the catch by apparatus was: Seines 36 per cent, gill 
nets 19 per cent, and pound nets 42 per cent. The change in 1920 was 
a decrease in catch by seines of 9$ per cent and an increase by gill 
nets of 1 per cent and by pound nets of 11 per cent. The following 
