tration of cards in this area was probably due to several 

 factors. Water leaving Naknek River during the first 

 several hours after high slack water moves seaward along 

 the southeast side of Kvichak Bay. This movement must 

 also occur for water above the Naknek River mouth along 

 the east side of Kvichak River. Once the water level has 

 dropped enough, the influence of a gravel bar off the en- 

 trance to Naknek River causes the main stream of Nak- 

 nek River water to be directed farther offshore, and the 

 water moving seaward along the east side of Kvichak 

 River is also directed farther offshore. These flows con- 

 verge and cause the shear line in the Naknek River 

 mouth mentioned earlier. The emergence of the gravel 

 bar at ebb tide also causes an eddy seaward of the bar 

 which extends as far as the northern end of Johnston Hill 

 (Fig. 10). Drift cards floating into this dead-water area at 

 a certain stage of tide may have been prevented for a 

 time from further seaward movement, and most were 

 recovered from 2 to 17 days after release, indicating some 

 had been confined in the area for many tidal cycles. More 

 than half the cards recovered in the area were taken in 

 stationary salmon gill nets. 



Drift cards released in the mouth of Kvichak River and 

 recovered elsewhere than in the area south of the mouth 

 of Naknek River show that the seaward flow of Kvichak 

 River water is along the northwest side of Kvichak Bay. 

 Other than in the limited area mentioned, no cards 

 released in Kvichak River were recovered on the 

 southeast side of the bay (Fig. 9). 



Cards released in Naknek River were recovered along 

 the southeast side of Kvichak Bay as far as Low Point 

 (Fig. 10), but no Naknek River cards were found seaward 

 of this point on this side of the bay. One was recovered, 



however, on the west side of Nushagak Peninsula, in- 

 dicating that the route of Naknek River water is offshore 

 and toward the northwest side of inner Bristol Bay. 



Drift cards released off Cape Chichagof and the en- 

 trance to Egegik Bay (Figs. 11, 12) show that movement 

 of these waters is across and toward the northwest side 

 of inner Bristol Bay; one card from each release was re- 

 covered north of the release site. 



An eddy similar to the one at the Naknek River mouth 

 probably exists south of Egegik River also. Most cards 

 released between Egegik and Ugashik rivers were even- 

 tually recovered on beaches south of Egegik Bay (Figs. 

 13, 14). 



Recoveries of cards from releases along lat. 58°N (Fig. 

 13), off Cape Greig (Fig. 14), at the entrance to Ugashik 

 Bay (Fig. 15), and off Cape Menshikof (Fig. 16) show the 

 course of the water to be north along the coast and ul- 

 timately toward the northwest side of Bristol Bay. No 

 cards from any of these four releases were recovered to 

 the south. 



The distribution of drift cards furnished direct 

 evidence on the courses followed by Kvichak, Naknek, 

 Egegik, and Ugashik river waters in Bristol Bay and on 

 the influence of the net or nontidal current on this pat- 

 tern. The course followed is consistent with the course in- 

 ferred from the horizontal salinity distribution in the 

 area and from results of the tracer studies. 



SYNOPSIS OF DISTRIBUTION OF 

 RIVER WATERS 



Results of the three methods of investigation permit a 

 reasonable synopsis of the distribution of waters of the 



Figure 11. — Recovery locations of drift cards released off Cape 

 Chichagof, inner Bristol Bay, 2 June 1967. (Lines from release site to 

 recovery location indicate resultant direction of drift.) 



Figure 12. — Recovery locations of drift cards released across en- 

 trance to Egegik Bay, inner Bristol Bay, 2 June 1967. (Lines from 

 release site to recovery location indicate resultant direction of drift.) 



10 



