TAGGING SALMON IN ALASKA, 1923 
59 
The rate of travel to other near-by spawning grounds along the southern shore 
of the peninsula is considerably slower. From Unga Island to Pavlof Bay required 
an average of 12.4 days; to Thin Point, 7.4 days; to Cold Bay, 6.5 days (2 indi- 
viduals) ; to Orzinski, 10 days (2 individuals) ; and all of these places are much 
nearer Unga Island than are either Ikatan or Morzhovoi Bay. The inference is 
that the fish bound for the local spawning grounds are traveling more leisurely or 
less directly, perhaps ranging more widely on their way, than are the fish bound for 
Bristol Bay. 
The fish tagged in the Shumagin Islands, and which went to the eastward as 
far as Chignilc, Kodiak, and Afognak Islands and Cook Inlet, required still more 
time in which to make the journey. All of the tags reported from these localities 
were attached in the Shumagins. The average time to Chignik was about 19 days. 
This is about the same distance from Unga Island as Ikatan Bay — 125 miles — yet 
the elapsed time is nearly three times as great. The rate of travel is correspondingly 
diminished and amounts to only about 6.5 miles per day — assuming, again, a 
uniform rate of speed by the shortest and most direct route. It is interesting to 
note that the fish that went to Cook Inlet (a distance of 450 miles, approximately 
the same as to Bristol Bay) traveled at a much faster rate, arriving at their desti- 
nation about the same time as did the fish taken at Chignik. As will be shown 
later, the fish going to Bristol Bay travel at about the same rate as those that 
went to Cook Inlet, and they had just about the same distance to go. In these 
cases the rate of travel was approximately 20 miles per day. Evidently the fish 
having the longest distance to go travel at a faster rate. 
Twenty tags attached at Unga Island were taken near the Bear and Sandy 
Rivers, some 15 miles east of Port Moller, on the northern shore of the peninsula, 
and distant from Unga about 280 miles. The fish required a little less than 16 days 
to go this distance — a rate of about IS miles per day. Eight tags were taken in 
Nelson’s Lagoon, where there are local spawning grounds, once of considerable 
importance but now seriously depleted. The average time required was 18.5 days. 
The distance is approximately 250 miles, hence the rate was 13.5 miles per day. 
Again, it is apparent that the fish bound for the more distant spawning grounds of 
Bering Sea travel more rapidly than do those going to near-by regions along the 
southern shore of the peninsula. 
FROM IKATAN BAY 
More of the tags attached in Ikatan Bay were taken in that same locality 
than anywhere else (34 per cent). From Bristol Bay 6.25 per cent were reported 
(to be discussed below), 2.8 per cent from Morzhovoi Bay, and 1.4 per cent from 
local spawning grounds on both the northern and the southern shores of the penin- 
sula. The average time required to make the journey from Ikatan Bay to Mor- 
zhovoi Bay was 4.4 days, indicating a very slow rate of travel, as the distance is only 
some 20 miles. One tag was recovered in Swanson’s Lagoon, on the northern shore 
of Unimak Island, 14 days after tagging; 3 were taken in Nelson’s Lagoon, 125 
miles distant, after an average time of 12 days; and 20 were taken near Bear and 
Sandy Rivers after an average time of 12.6 days. This last locality is about 160 
