August 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



49 



month in 1965. Prices were generally higher 

 for all items in the subgroup- -substantially 

 higher for frozen shrimp (up 2 5.9 percent) 

 and flounder fillets (up 10.3 percent). 



Prices for all canned 

 fishery products were un- 

 changed from May to June 

 1966. Market conditions 

 were steady to firm and 

 stocks of several products, particularly can- 

 ned salmon, were low. But compared with 



the same month a year earlier, the index 

 this June was up 19.7 percent. Prices were 

 higher than in June 196 5 for canned pink salm- 

 on (up 29.5 percent), canned tuna (up 18.4 

 percent), and California jack mackerel (up 

 12.2 percent). Prices for canned Maine 

 sardines remained unchanged for each of the 

 months indicated. (U. S. Department of the 

 Interior, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, 

 Fishery Market News Service.) 



BEAR PREDATION ON SALMON UNDER STUDY IN ALASKA 



An electric fence is in place to keep Alaskan brown bears out of part of Grassy Point 

 Creek, a tributary of Karluk Lake 80 miles west of Kodiak, Alaska. The electric fence was 

 put up to help biologists find out how extensively bears prey on the salmon in the stream. 

 The project was described in September 1965 by the scientist in charge of the Karluk Lake 

 Field Station of the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 



Salmon population in the controlled section of thebearless stream willbe compared to 

 the number of fish in the stream where bears may freely wander. The effect on salmon 

 populations and egg deposition will be considered. It's part of comprehensive studies to 

 consider all the factors in a salmon's environment and survival. 



When a bear takes an unspawned female sockeye (red) salmon for his dinner he is also 

 destroying from 3,000 to 5,000 eggs. With a high bear population the number of eggs de- 

 stroyed by the huge animals is sizable. 



Some surprising problems have come up in the study. For one thing "bruin" isn'tcoop- 

 erating completely. He likes salmon too well. He's willing to endure a strong, painful e- 

 lectric shockN to break the wires and get into the salmon stream. As a result, scientists are 

 constantly repairing the electric fence. 



The bear predation study was started in 1964. In areas where bears are allowed to 

 prey on salmon, the remains of dead salmon gather and scientists determine the spawned 

 to unspawned ratio. In 1964, only 15 percent of the bear-killed female salmon were un- 

 spawned. Most of the fish taken by the "brownies" had already spawned. In the summer of 

 1965, bear predation on salmon appeared to be at a minimum. Biologists pump salmon eggs 

 from the stream to learn the number of eggs deposited in areas with bear predation and 

 the numbers without. 



The study may show that the total effect of the bears on the salmon resource is minor, 

 but this remains to be determined. 



