18 



CCMJERCIM, FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 13, No. 4 



net. Although 75 to gO percent of the catch may have been lost, this drag produced 

 4 pounds of spot and 1 pound of humpy shrimp (Pandalus goniurus ) per hour. Bie spot 

 were large, averaging 11 per pound, heads on. 



One otter-trawl drag 9 miles off Pt. Visry, Kruzof Island resulted in the net 

 snagging 8 minutes after reaching bottom. The recording depth finder showed this 



area to have a fairly smoott 

 bottom, but evidently there 

 are many rocks which are 

 large and sharp enough ^to 

 tear a net or break a beam. 

 These rocks may be from the 

 eruption of Kt, Edgecim.be. 

 It is quite possible that a 

 population of spot shrimp 

 inhabit this area near the 

 rocks, but dragging opera- 

 tions seem impracticable, 

 and a trap fishery would 

 probably not be feasible 

 except in the summer months 

 because of the inclement 

 weather often encountered 

 in- this region. 



M/jrmi 



FIGURE 8 - PORTION OF AFTERDECK OF JOHN N. 



TRAWLING WINCH IN OPERATION. 



COBB SHOWING 



Beam-trawl drags in 

 Nakwasina Passage , Nakwas- 



ina Sound, and Krestov Sound produced insignificant numbers of shrimp, as did shrimp 

 traps set in Nakwasina Sound and near Halibut Point. 



Mid-channel drags in 66 to 82 fathoms near the head of Katlian Bay averaged l62 

 pounds of pink shrimp per drag per hour. A single night drag with the beam trawl in 

 Katlian Bay yielded approximately the same amount of shrimp as a daytime drag over 

 the same location. Night drags in Fish Bay and Tenakee Inlet also produced approxi- 

 mately the same amo\int of shrimp as daytime drags in these areas. Catches in Katlian 

 Bay indicate the shrimp population might support a small-scale dragging operation. 



No shrimp were caught in seven drags in Silver Bay and Deep Inlet although one 

 drag near the entrance of Silver Bay netted eight pounds of pink per hour. 



Beam trawl drags west of Biorka Reefs, Sitka Sound, in depths of 70 to 94 

 fathoms netted only anall amounts of humpy shrimp. Shrimp traps set in 28 to 80 

 fathoms near Vasilief Bank, Sitka Sound, produced poor results. Ihe shrimp traps 

 set in Sitka Sound contained thousands of small "sand fleas" (amphipods) wrtiich 

 had stripped the bait, leaving only bones. This condition was also noted in other 

 areas where traps set produced few shrimp. It is possible that when amphipods are 

 present in such large numbers, the shrimp move out rather than compete with them 

 for food. 



DUNGENESS CRAB : A total of 43 individual crab-pot sets were made in depths 

 of 13 to 33 fathoms throughout the areas covered in this survey. Dungeness crabs 

 weighing up to 3-^ poiinds were taken in pots from all areas except Pavlof Harbor, 

 Freshwater Bay, where 3 traps produced no Dungeness crab. Commercial fishing for 

 Dungeness crab is carried on in Itenakee Inlet and Peril Strait each year until 

 freezing weather causes many of the Bays to ice in, making crab fishing impracti- 

 cable. 



