SALMON-TAGGING EXPERIMENTS IN ALASKA, 1930 
403 
periments in 1925 and 1926. In both of these years approximately 11 per cent of 
the pinks tagged near Cape Fox was taken below the international boundary. The 
results are shown graphically in Figure 1. 
Comparatively few fish of the other species were tagged during 1930, and the re- 
turns were so few that detailed tabulation is unnecessary. 
Of red salmon, 109 were tagged and 28 recovered. Of these 6, or 21.4 per cent, 
came from British Columbia, all being taken in the region of Portland Canal, either 
at Wales Island, Mill Bay, or Arrandale and were probably bound for the spawning 
grounds of the Nass River. Considerably larger numbers of red salmon were tagged 
in previous experiments (especially in 1926, when over 700 were tagged), but the re- 
sults were much the same. In the experiments of 1924 and 1925 about one-third and in 
1926 about 18 per cent of the recaptured reds came from British Columbia waters. 
In 1930, as in previous years, the reds taken in Alaskan waters were distributed 
chiefly along the eastern shore of Clarence Strait and in Revillagigedo Channel. 
Thirteen of the twenty-eight fish recaptured were taken in this region and nine were 
taken not far from the point of tagging — the others being taken in British Columbia. 
Eighty coho salmon were tagged in 1930 near Cape Fox and 13 were recaptured. 
Six of these were taken in British Columbia waters, of which three came from the region 
of Portland Canal and one each from Wark Canal, Bulkley River, and Kitemaat River. 
In 1925 cohos were tagged at Foggy Point in Revillagigedo Channel north of Cape 
Fox and none was taken in British Columbia, but, in 1926, 238 were tagged near 
Cape Fox and 41 were returned, of which number about half came from south of the 
boundary. The results of the tagging in 1930 are much the same, therefore, as those 
of previous comparable experiments. 
One tag attached at Cape Fox on August 7 was reported as placed on a coho, but 
the fish was recaptured at Metlakatla Bar, British Columbia, on April 20, 1931, and 
was reported as a king salmon weighing about 32 pounds. In the haste of tagging 
operations it is not surprising that an error was made in recording the species, but 
the interesting thing about the record is that, if the fish was small enough on August 
7 to be mistaken for a coho, it must have made quite a remarkable growth between 
that date and the following April. Scales are preserved of all fish tagged and those of 
this fish have been examined. In certain minor characters they resemble those of 
the typical silver salmon, but the differences between the scales of silvers and kings 
are not so well marked that it is possible to distinguish all individual specimens with 
certainty. In so far as the age of the fish is concerned, however, there can be no doubt 
that it was a king salmon. It had evidently spent two full years in fresh water, mi- 
grating to the sea in the spring of its third year. At the time of tagging it was in its 
second year in the sea and must have completed this year and started a third year 
of ocean growth at the time of recapture. Although the silver salmon exhibit some 
variability as to the length of time spent in fresh water, especially in northern latitudes, 
they apparently never spend two full years in the sea. There can be little doubt, 
therefore, that this was a king salmon. 
Only 59 chum salmon were tagged near Cape Fox in 1930. Of these, 12 were later 
recaptured, but only one was taken below the international boundary. This was taken 
at Wales Island, Portland Canal. The other returns came chiefly from Clarence 
Strait north of Cape Fox and from Revillagigedo Channel. One was taken in Behm 
Canal. These results, although meager, are again in substantial agreement with 
those previously secured. In 1924 and 1925, 67 chums were tagged and 12 recaptured 
