Ward. — Migration of the Sockeye Salmon 413 



ject that portion of the run to total extinction. Our experi- 

 ence with reference to the conditions at Lake Klutina and 

 especially with that part of the Klutina run which spawns in 

 Saint Anne Creek is most illuminating. We did not see this 

 run start, but we were on hand to witness its cessation. All 

 of the fish which came after a certain date went to other spawn- 

 ing grounds, and the fish which spawned in Saint Anne Creek 

 were taken from that portion of the run which reached this 

 place before August 19, approximately. If intensive fishing 

 had been permitted during the time when these fish were pass- 

 ing the canyon, it is not difficult to see that the number which 

 escaped and passed up to this spawning ground might have 

 been reduced practically to zero. Intensive fishing within a 

 limited period is evidently equally dangerous if practiced out- 

 side the mouth of a river or on the coastal flats over which 

 the salmon approach a spawning stream. 



It is evident that where the limit is set upon the number 

 of fish which may be captured or the number of cases of fish 

 which may be put up, much the same conditions will result. 

 It is of course in the interests of any commercial organiza- 

 tion to take its catch in the minimum possible time, and to 

 handle it with the maximum efficiency and expedition. 

 Thereby the cost of the work will be reduced to the lowest 

 figure and the profits be correspondingly increased. The 

 method of limiting the catch by quantity protects the run of 

 fish against the possibility that if the run happens to be con- 

 centrated by weather conditions, seining within a limited pe- 

 riod may secure much more than the amount that was planned 

 for removal; and a quantity limitation on the catch, if rightly 

 related to the total run, permits the escape of an adequate num- 

 ber of spawning fish, so that the spawning beds may be prop- 

 erly seeded. 



Nevertheless, the quantitative limitation is open to the seri- 

 ous objection that it does not take into account any unusual 

 fluctuations of the run. Even if adequate allowance be made 

 for the normal and usual variations in the number of fish 



