484 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
taken in the early years of exploitation. Unusually good catches have been made 
in a few years, poor catches have also appeared, but positive signs of depletion are 
not discernable in the statistical records here considered. That the district will con- 
tinue to produce fair runs of these species, at least under the present limitations of 
fishing, appears to be a reasonable assumption. 
CHATHAM STRAIT 
The Chatham Strait district is bounded on the north by a line from the point at 
the south entrance of Funter Bay to Point Couverden and thence to Point Augusta, 
and on the south by a line from Cape Ommaney to Cape Decision; it is separated 
from Peril Strait by a line from Point Craven to Point Thatcher, and from Frederick 
Sound by a line from Point Gardner, passing just east of Yasha Island to a point on 
the shore of Kuiu Island 1 mile north of Kingsmill Point. Chatham Strait has many 
arms indenting the shores of Admiralty, Chichagof, Baranof, and Kuiu Islands, 
several of which have been notable producers of pink and chum salmon and have 
made fair contributions to the catch of the other species. (See fig. 17.) 
Yet Chatham Strait, with all its length of more than 200 miles of shore line and 
numerous bays, has no exceptionally important salmon stream. There are many 
small streams tributary to the strait some of which support fair runs of fish, but the 
larger catches have come regularly from the strait, often at considerable distance 
from a stream. Some of the bays were also fair producers, but none of them ap- 
proached in productivity the shore of Mansfield Peninsula between Funter Bay and 
Plawk Inlet, Fishery Point, Kingsmill Point, and the north shore of Tebenkof Bay 
a few miles eastward of Point Ellis. These larger catches at points several miles 
from a stream were made by traps which intercepted the main runs of salmon to 
Lynn Canal, Stephens Passage, and Frederick Sound. The important runs enter 
Chatham Strait from Icy Strait on the north or directly from the ocean through the 
southern entrance; small runs may also come through Peril Strait from the west 
and through Keku Strait from the south. The fish entering from the south tend to 
follow the Kuiu Island shore and for the most part are bound to the streams of 
Frederick Sound and Stephens Passage, though some go into the upper part of the 
strait, as was shown by tagging experiments in 1924 and 1925; but there is probably 
no significant movement of salmon in that direction north of Point Gardner. The 
runs from the north, differing from those of the south, show less preference for one 
side of the strait, as good catches have been made on both the Chichagof and 
Admiralty shores, but in the long run the shore of Admiralty Island unquestionably 
is preferred and leads in production. 
Baranof and Chichagof Islands are decidedly more mountainous than Admiralty 
and Kuiu Islands, their streams are much more precipitous, particularly those of 
Baranof, shorter, and in several cases, seriously obstructed by natural barriers. The 
areas available for spawning are correspondingly reduced and in consequence these 
streams never did and never will support a salmon population equal to that of the 
eastern tributaries of Chatham Strait. All bays on the east coast of Baranof Island 
are small, Kelp Bay being the largest, and for the most part have only one or two 
tributaries which are accessible to salmon. The east coast of Chichagof Island is 
indented by the largest bays of the west side of Chatham Strait. Tenakee Inlet, the 
largest one, is 40 miles in length and extends in a northwesterly direction beyond the 
center of the island. It has several fair-sized tributaries which produced large 
