SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA SALMON STATISTICS 
497 
between Distant Point and Point Gardner made comparatively small catches, and 
the farther south they were located the fewer fish they caught. This same condition 
existed on the west side of the strait, as no large catches have ever been reported 
from waters south of Kelp Bay. The trap catches are easily recognized by their 
greater uniformity and the presence of all species, whereas fishing in the bays by 
seines is characterized by wide fluctuations and intervals during which, apparently, 
no fishing was conducted. 
According to available data, the commercial utilization of salmon in this dis- 
trict began in 1890 at Sitkoh Bay, that being one of the few localities where red sal- 
mon were found. A few years later Basket Bay and Freshwater Bay were fished for 
reds, if, indeed, they were not exploited at the time of the opening of the first can- 
nery in the district. The early records are not complete and allowances must be 
made, therefore, in any consideration of the data for those years. The period from 
1890 to 1900 may well be termed the pioneer days of the salmon industry in this 
district; canneries and salteries were few; red salmon almost exclusively were sought 
which necessarily confined fishing to red-salmon streams and involved ru nnin g- 
hither and yon for a few thousand fish. In time it was evident that there were not 
enough red salmon available in the entire district to support even one cannery and 
if a salmon industry were to be successfully established here, it would have to be 
based on the utilization of the chums and pinks, the most abundant species in these 
waters. In 1901, nearly 1,000,000 pink salmon were taken in the northern part of 
Chatham Strait; the first important catch of cohos was also made in that year. Three 
years later a small catch of chums was made, traps were first used in the strait, and 
a fishery industry which until now had shown little promise of growth and develop- 
ment at last gave evidence of permanent stability and the once neglected species of 
salmon became the chief support of the infant industry. The catch did not progress 
steadily from year to year, but fluctuated according to the number of plants in oper- 
ation and the amount of gear employed. There had been no intensive fishing and 
consequently no diminution of the supply of salmon, so that the catches were almost 
entirely dependent upon the intensity of fishing. Only five known localities were 
fished in 1904 — Basket Bay, Freshwater Bay, Sitkoh Bay, White Rock, and the 
strait proper. In 1905, catches were reported from Chaik Bay and Hawk Inlet but 
four of the localities mentioned in the reports of 1904 were not listed. In the next 
few years operations expanded, the catch increased, and more seines and traps were 
employed than ever before. This was followed by a period of regression which lasted 
two years, but 1911 marked the beginning of a rapid development of the industry 
and an invasion of new localities which culminated in 1917 in a level of production 
that has not since been closely approached. It does not follow, however, that this 
rather intensive fishing was more than the district could safely s,tand, although some 
areas may have been measurably depleted, for the catch remained comparatively 
high in all the years down through 1927, except in 1921, when operations were pur- 
posely curtailed. Even in the last four years, with a new law in effect, closed sea- 
sons and closed areas established, the catch still maintained a satisfactorily high 
level commensurable with the known productive strength of the district. T his was 
the situation in regard to all species collectively. Looking at the data for each 
species separately, it is apparent that the only serious decline has been in the catch 
of chums, yet it can not be said definitely that this species was in fact less abundant 
than a decade before. The closed seasons could very easily have reduced the catch 
in greater proportion than they affected the other species, particularly in those local- 
