KARLUK RIVER RED-SALMON INVESTIGATION 



11 



were entirely spawned out; i. e., with no loose eggs in the abdominal cavity; the remaining 20 

 per cent had an average of 97 eggs unspawned, with the most in any instance noted 1,246. The 

 sockeye carries between 2,500 and 4,000 eggs, an average, perhaps, of about 3,500. This remnant, 

 then, amounts to about one-half of 1 per cent of the total number of eggs matured. The product 

 of this one stream, on the same basis of estimate, is 37,000,000 eggs. It is believed that less than 

 one-tenth of the number of fish entering the lake spawned in the above-mentioned creek. Thus, 

 approximately 400,000,000 sockeye eggs were spawned in Karluk Lake basin in 1903. Sockeyes 

 are reported by natives to spawn late in the winter, even under the ice, but it is doubtful whether 

 it is usual for any noteworthy number to occur as a fall run, as with other species and in more 

 southerly streams. 



In 1903 the spawning season was practically over early in September. Since the fishing con- 

 tinues ordinarily into that month, the spawning should last much later. The double operation 

 of cannery and hatchery, perhaps, accounts for its early close. 



On Karluk Lake in 1903, in the creek on which the spawners were counted, these beds were 

 examined by digging in the gravel to find the condition of the deposited eggs. Between August 5 

 and September 2, 58 "nests" were examined. In these were found 4,005 good eggs and 2,022 

 dead ones, or, in other words, about two-thirds of the buried eggs were found to be in good condi- 

 tion. On the latter date 587 eyed eggs were found under about 10 inches of gravel, with only 13 

 dead ones. This demonstrates that eggs will live and develop under proper conditions when 

 deeply buried. In another stream, in the center of a nest, under 6 inches of gravel, only 29 of 

 620 eggs recovered were living. In a third bed, of 1,140 eggs taken from the lower half of the nest, 

 in a light current and from under 7 inches of gravel, only 2S were dead. In general, the observer 

 records few eggs from locations in strong current; this was possibly in part from failure to find the 

 eggs as well as from their scarcity. , Most beds show a decided balance in favor of the good eggs. 

 In two examinations of the connecting stream from one of the tributary lakes less than 4 per cent 

 of the eggs were dead. 



Our observations, particularly those made in 1926, do not support the idea 

 advanced by Chamberlain that the early arrivals that reach the lake about the middle 

 of June remain in the lake until August before spawning. In 1926 the very heavy 

 early run was spawning abundantly by the 10th of July, and apparently had com- 

 pleted spawning entirely before the 1st of August. In 1926 Moraine Creek was 

 well seeded by this early run and was also used extensively by the later runs — those 

 that spawned in the early part of August, at the same time Rutter's observations 

 were made. Unless conditions were very different in the two years, then, it is 

 difficult to believe that the 21,756 spawning fish counted in 1903 represent the total 

 for that season, although no doubt it is a close approximation to the number in the 

 creek during August. It is quite probable that conditions were vastly different in 

 1903 than in 1926, and that the early escapement was very much smaller. Certainly, 

 if Moraine Creek in 1903 had received anything like the early spawning run it had 

 in 1926 the remains of dead fish would have attracted the attention of a well-trained 

 observer such as Mr. Rutter. 



In 1911 a brief visit was made to Karluk Lake by Ward T. Bower and party. 

 Unfortunately, it has been impossible to find the detailed notes made at the time, 

 so that the only available information is contained in the following quotations from 

 a section of an administrative report: 6 



An exploration was made of Karluk Lake the latter part of July primarily for the purpose of 

 locating a hatchery site. A tributary stream near the lower end of the lake appears to be suitable 



8 Fish Culture in Alaska. By Ward T. Bower. In Alaska Fisheries and Fur Industries in 1911, by Barton Warren Ever- 

 mann. Report, United States Commissioner of Fisheries, 1911 (1913). Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 766, pp. 66-88- 

 Washington. 



