610 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Other combinations were made as follows: “Coffman Island” catches were 
added to those from Coffman Co ve ; “ Exchange Creek ’ ’ to Exchange Cove ; ‘ ‘ Meyers 
Creek” to Meyers Chuck; “Nesbitt Reef” to Point Nesbitt; “Jim Creek No. 6” 
and “Jim Creek” to Skookum Jim Creek; “Steamboat Bay” to Steamer Bay. 
Stikine Strait catches include those reported from Deep Bay, South Beach, Round 
Point, and Steamer Point. 
The localities in which traps were used naturally stand out as the largest producers 
of salmon in this part of the district. Eagle Creek, as one of these places, attracts 
attention in that hundreds of thousands of salmon have been reported as from that 
stream. The data include, however, the catches by traps a mile or more on either 
side of the mouth of the stream, the elimination of which would reduce the actual 
catches at the creek to considerably smaller totals. The creek has no estuary but 
empties into Clarence Strait from a bold shore which affords no protected area for 
schooling salmon, so that catches by seines are comparatively small. The traps not 
only take Eagle Creek fish but intercept salmon that are bound to other streams and 
thus complicate the data and easily convey false impressions in regard to the Eagle 
Creek fishery. Segregation of such catches are obviously desirable but could not be 
made with the available information. The reported catches of king salmon in 1918 
and 1922 were certainly not taken at Eagle Creek, but for the most part were made 
by trollers fishing in the northern part of Clarence Strait in the general vicinity of the 
creek. These faults of allocation were allowed to stand as reported because they at 
least fixed the place of capture in the northern part of the strait. Most of the catches 
along the western shore of Etolin Island from Ernest Point to Point Harrington, 
exclusive of the bays, were made by traps, as is easily recognizable by the catch of 
king salmon, whereas the places fished by seines show few or no kings, as may be seen 
by referring to the data for Exchange Cove, McHenry Inlet, Mosman Inlet, Rocky 
Bay, Salmon Bay, and Whale Passage. 
The shore of Cleveland Peninsula between Niblack Point and Lemesurier Point 
is the most important area in this district for trap fishing. Large catches were made 
at Niblack Point, Ship Island, and Northwest Cove. These include appreciable 
numbers of red salmon and give some indication of the extent to which the runs of 
this species are fished before reaching their final destination, although no information 
is available to show the localities to which these runs are headed. It seems fairly 
certain, however, that the few small streams of this shore are not their ultimate 
objective. If the movement is northward, they are bound probably to Ernest Sound; 
if southward, to Behm Canal. 
The most important red-salmon stream tributary to the northern part of Clarence 
Strait empties into Salmon Bay. Although it was barricaded regularly for years 
and abused by reckless fishi n g at its mouth in a later period, the run survived and 
showed no serious diminution before 1921, while, in fact, the catch in 1923 was larger 
than it had been in 11 years. On January 1 , 1926, the bay was closed to all fishing 
for salmon, thus terminating a fishery that had existed for more than 30 years. 
The data here presented do not indicate definitely depletion of the fisheries at 
any locality. Various laws and regulations have had their effect upon catches near 
the streams, and closed seasons reduced the catches generally throughout the district. 
In places where the trend of the catches appeared to be approaching dangerous levels 
special regulations were applied. Barnes Lake and tributary waters were closed on 
January 1 , 1916. On June 21, 1924, Thorne and Tolstoi Bays were closed. The 
