SALMON-TAGGING EXPERIMENTS 
21 
1923. Uyak Bay is only some 20 miles from the point of tagging, and Karluk Beach, 
where most of the tagged fish were recaptured, is about 20 miles farther on to the 
westward. Fifty-eight tagged fish were taken at Karluk Beach on the 22d, having 
traveled about 30 miles in 2 or 3 days. The actual rate of travel is more rapid than 
is indicated by the figures on account of the lapse of time between the actual capture 
and the finding of the tags. (See Gilbert and Rich.) 
It is not known whether these traps in Uganik Bay take Karluk red salmon 
throughout the season, and it is purposed to secure data that will solve this problem. 
In the light of our present definite knowledge, however, we must include the Uganik 
catch of red salmon in the total for the Karluk run, just as is done in the case of the 
red salmon taken in Uyak Bay. 
NICHOLASKI SPIT, 1928 
This experiment was designed to test the theory that the red salmon taken at 
Nicholaski Spit were part of the same run that passes the Shumagin Islands and 
Morzhovoi and Ikatan Bays, which has been shown by the experiments of 1922 and 
1923 to consist largely of Bristol Bay fish. Nicholaski Spit is situated on the western 
shore of Pavlof Bay, Alaska Peninsula, about halfway between the Shumagin Islands 
and the end of the peninsula. The fishery here is of recent development, a trap 
having been driven in 1924 and operated every year since. The late Dr. C. H. 
Gilbert examined scales of red salmon from this locality and found indications that 
the catches contained a considerable percentage of Bristol Bay fish. More recent 
statistical studies also have shown a distinct correlation in the size of the catches at 
Nicholaski Spit and in Ikatan and Morzhovoi Bays, 3 a fact that lent further probability 
to this theory. 
As originally planned, this experiment was to have been carried out during the 
height of the red-salmon run in the Ikatan-Shumagin Island district, but additional 
regulations prevented fishing at Nicholaski Spit until after the 1st of July. Other 
circumstances made it impossible to tag immediately after the fishing season opened, 
and it was not until July 11 that the first tags were attached. The main part of the 
Bristol Bay run has passed through the Ikatan-Shumagin Island district before this 
time, so that the experiments can not be taken as accurately representing the condi- 
tion at Nicholaski Spit earlier in the season. In spite of these deficiencies, however, 
the data show a distinct migration to the westward and into Bering Sea, where tags 
were taken at Bear River and in Bristol Bay. It seems safe to conclude, in view of 
all the lines of evidence available, that the fish that pass Nicholaski Spit earlier in the 
season include Bristol Bay fish, probably in about the same proportion as do the runs 
in the Shumagin Islands and at Ikatan. 
Four hundred and sixty-one tags were attached as follows: 300 on July 11, 74 on 
July 12, and 87 on July 17. Only 30 tags were recovered (6.5 per cent). This 
relatively low percentage of recaptures is probably due to the fact that the tagging 
was done so late in the season. The returns are given in Table 17. 
3 Statistical Review of the Alaska Salmon Fisheries. Part I: Bristol Bay and the Alaska Peninsula. By Willis H. Rich and 
Edward M. Ball. Bulletin, U. S. Bureau Of Fisheries, Vol. XLIV, 1928, pp. 41-95. Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 1041. 
