SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA SALMON STATISTICS 
625 
Catch data for Anan show peculiar fluctuations, in that during the early history 
of fishing there the heavier runs came in the odd years, the peak being reached in 1909. 
Thereafter the catch declined progressively until 1914. It improved somewhat in 
the next 4 years, but dropped again in 1920 to the lowest figure in the history of the 
Anan fishery, which may have been due to a slackened fishing effort or to an actual 
scarcity of salmon. Following 1921, the catches improved in 1922 and 1923, but 2 
years later the respective cycles were less than half as productive. This decline may 
be attributed in some degree to more stringent regulation of fishing, yet there still re- 
mains convincing evidence in these data that the runs had been reduced. How far 
the regulations now in effect may go toward restoring the runs to their former pro- 
portions cannot be foretold, although they have made possible an escapement of salmon 
probably sufficient to reestablish this fishery in a few years. 
All species of salmon are caught at Anan Creek but no special significance 
attaches to any species except the pink salmon. 
Anita Bay, Olive Cove, and Thoms Place, tributary to Zimovia Strait, are local- 
ities in which pink salmon chiefly are taken. The streams are small and empty into 
protected waters where fishing is subject to no interruption by storms or surf. Relax- 
ation of fishing seldom occurs during the continuance of the runs in such places and 
in consequence overfishing often results. While the runs were never large at any of 
these places, there was a substantial decline in the catches during the last 10 years. 
This was more marked at Olive Cove and Thoms Place than at Anita Bay. The 
closing order of June 21, 1924, stopped fishing in all three localities, although the data 
for Olive Cove indicate that the order was disregarded in 1925. The stream at Thoms 
Place was estimated by Moser to be capable of producing 20,000 red salmon and 5,000 
cohos annually. It was fished as early as 1897 and for several years did produce 
approximately that number of reds, but since 1916 the catch has exceeded 10,000 only 
once, while the average yield for 9 years, 1916 to 1925, was less than 5,000. This 
stream produced slightly more than 40 percent of the total red-salmon catch in the 
Ernest Sound district from 1897 to 1924, the total for the period being 239,465 for 
the stream as compared with 588,509 for the district. 
Several small bays, indenting the western shore of Cleveland Peninsula, support 
good runs of pink salmon and produce a few thousand chums, cohos, and reds, but 
in practically every case the catch data contain questionable items. Occasionally 
trap catches were reported from the bays, when in reality they came only from the 
vicinity of the bays. This situation is clearly indicated in the Emerald Bay data for 
1925 if, indeed, the catch was not similarly affected in other years. Union Bay and 
Vixen Inlet data are likewise faulty in that they include salmon caught by traps at 
the entrance of the bays from the general runs of the sound. The southern shore of 
Union Bay was a favorable locality for trap fishing, due to the preference of the mi- 
grating salmon for that shore as they swing into Ernest Sound from Clarence Strait 
from both northerly and southerly directions. The eastern shore of Etolin Island is 
far less productive, having smaller streams and fewer bays, although Menefee Inlet, 
Southwest Cove, Canoe Passage, and Fools Inlet are fairly important localities. The 
data for these localities have peculiarities like those on the opposite side of the sound, 
a case in point being the catches reported from Menefee Inlet in 1920, particularly in 
the number of king salmon and red salmon alleged to have been taken there. These 
faults in data affect the individual localities but not the catches in the district as a 
whole. 
