HERRING IN PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND, ALASKA 
267 
In 1924 several of the packers in Prince William Sound prepared to fish on a 
large scale in Red Fox Bay and in Cook Inlet. From 1924 until 1928, inclusive, 
many of the seine boats did a great deal of moving about during the season, fishing 
in Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, the Kodiak-Afognak district, and, in 1928, at 
Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. This renders it rather difficult to understand 
the fluctuations that occurred in the catch during the period from 1924 to 1928, 
inclusive. These changes are treated more fully in the section on the condition 
of the supply. 
FISHING GROUNDS 
Prior to 1923 accurate records of the fishing grounds are lacking. Some knowl- 
edge of the grounds fished and amounts and sizes of fish taken has been gathered 
from various sources, and, although fragmentary, it is presented for what it is worth. 
(See fig. 4.) 
Most of the 1918 herring were seined in Evans Bay (Evans Island area). In 
1919 a large share of the pack was caught in the Evans Island area during July, 
some small herring were taken in the southern Knight Island area during June, and 
a quantity of large fat herring were caught in Whale Bay from mid-September 
through October. 
During 1920 the southern Knight Island and Evans Island areas produced 
large quantities of summer herring. From mid-September through October large 
quantities of herring were taken in Whale Bay (two companies took 7,000 barrels). 
These were mostly small and used for reduction. One packer reports that herring 
were also plentiful in Main Bay, but he considered it too distant for profitable fishing. 
Only a few thin fish were taken during June in 1921. From about the 4th of 
July until the 1st of August herring were taken off Procession Rocks in the Evans 
Island area. Herring were scarce during August and until the last of September. 
From then on through October large quantities of herring of mixed sizes were taken 
in both Whale Bay and Main Bay. Very late in the fall several loads of herring 
were caught in McClure Bay (Main Bay area). 
For 1922 we have accurate locality records of a company that caught about 8.7 
per cent of the total catch. This company took 50.7 per cent of its catch from the 
Evans Island area, 3.9 per cent from southern Knight Island, 5.5 per cent from the 
southwest Montague Island area, and 39.9 per cent from the Main Bay area. Other 
operators, however, fished but little in the vicinity of Evans Island, taking about 
50 per cent of their catch from Macleod Harbor and Hanning Bay on the southwest 
end of Montague Island. All packers agree that the 1922 herring were the 
largest ever taken in the sound, rivalling the large Kodiak-Afognak district herring 
taken in Red Fox Bay from 1923 to 1927. 
For 1923 and succeeding years accurate locality records are available on a suffi- 
cient portion of the catch to permit allocation of the whole catch to various localities 
with a high degree of confidence. (Table 3.) The most striking feature of Table 
3 is the large percentage of the catch taken in the vicinity of Evans Island. It is 
at once apparent from the table and from the foregoing discussion that this area 
never failed to contribute a share of the catch. The next largest producing areas, 
southern Knight Island and southwestern Montague Island have, on the contrary, 
been extremely erratic. 
In framing any regulations to govern these fisheries it is imperative that the 
relative importance of each fishing ground be kept clearly in mind. 
