PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND, COPPER AND BERING RIVER SALMON STATISTICS 217 
Port Wells . — Port Wells proper with its tributaries, forms the largest arm of 
Prince William Sound ; it has produced more salmon than any other locality in what 
is here called the Port Wells district, but fluctuations in the catch have been erratic. 
In 1912 and 1913, red salmon only were reported from this locality and they probably 
came from Coghill River. The next catch, consisting entirely of pinks, was made in 
1917; thereafter fishing was prosecuted each year through 1927 although in 1921 only 
reds were taken while in 1923 the catch consisted wholly of pinks. In several years 
chums and reds were caught in appreciable numbers, occasionally cohos and kings, 
but pinks constituted the valuable fishery. Since 1922, the trend of the catch allo- 
cated strictly to Port Wells has been downward. 
Looking at the Port Wells district as a whole, it is observed that the trend of the 
pink-salmon catch is decidedly upward and was not seriously affected by the total 
abandonment of fishing in the district in 1921 and the limited activities of the next 
two years. Although the catch in 1926 was smaller than in 1924 by 15 per cent, the 
catch in 1927 was 54 per cent larger than that in 1925, showing a tendency, frequently 
noted elsewhere, toward an equalization of runs as between the odd and even years. 
The situation in respect to red salmon is not encouraging. The run was never large 
and the catches declined rapidly after the peak of 1918 to a low level that was main- 
tained up to 1927 except for slightly larger catches in 1924 and 1925. Some allow- 
ance should be made, however, for the effect of legal restrictions on fishing at Coghill 
River as that was the chief red-salmon locality in the district although a stream on 
the eastern slope of Esther Island once produced a few thousand. 
Coho and king salmon data are too fragmentary to warrant detailed considera- 
tion. Chums were fairly abundant in some years, notably 1918 and 1925, but in 1921 
and 1923 none was taken, while in 1922 the catch was negligible. The commercially 
important fishery of this district is centered, of course, in the pink-salmon runs, and 
the catches as already indicated appear to be increasing in nearly all localities. 
Graphic Table No. 4 presents a picture of the pink and red salmon fisheries in this 
district. 
Table 4. — Graphic table showing the catch of reds and pinks in the Port Wells district, 1917-1927 
[Each letter represents the following number of fish: Reds, 2,000, and pinks, 100,000j 
Year 
Reds 
Pinks 
1917 
mmmmMmmmmMmm 
m 
1918 
mmmmMmmmmMmmmmMmmmm 
mmmmMmmm 
1919 
mmmmMmm 
mm 
1920 
mmmm 
mmmmMmmmmMmm 
1921 - 
mmmm 
1922 
mmmmM 
1923 
m 
1924 
mmmmMmmmmMmm 
mmmmMmmmmMmmmmMmmmmM 
mmmmMmm 
1925 
mmmmMmm 
1926 
mm 
mmmmMmmmmMmmmmMmm 
1927 
mm 
mmmmMmmmmM 
EAGLEK BAY DISTRICT 
This small district, embracing a single locality between Port Wells and Unakwik 
Inlet, was set apart from all others because salmon taken in Eaglek Bay are presum- 
ably derived strictly from local runs, entirely separated from those to neighboring 
waters. The figures include a catch reported in 1917 from “Eayek ” Bay, an undeter- 
mined locality, if not intended for Eaglek Bay. It is possible, of course, that some 
of the fish taken in the bay are casual visitors actually bound for other waters, but it 
