646 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
location during a season. Tlie locations of these experiments are given in figure 1. The 
results from them were most valuable and greatly assisted in the formation of the present 
fishing districts in the region. 3 Plans were made to continue these tagging experiments in 
a more detailed manner so that the destinations of the salmon passing through each main 
channel of entry at different times during the migratory season could be determined. 
Information of this nature is very important, for it provides a basis upon which to 
regulate the fishery in order to protect the salmon during their migration in the 
entrance channels as well as in the streams where they spawn. 
The grouping of the waters of southeastern Alaska into fishing districts, for the 
purpose of regulating the commercial fishery, is based upon two separate studies of the 
life history and habits of the salmon. The first study deals with the determination 
of the migratory routes of the salmon. This gives a general picture of the channels 
of entry frequented by the salmon during their migrations to the various spawning 
localities. The second study — beyond the scope of this paper — deals with the time 
in the fishing season during wliich the salmon migrate through each district, and is 
based upon a study of the daily catch records of the fishing gear in the districts. 
Information from this study was used to set the opening and closing dates for fishing 
in the districts so as to provide for the escapement of an adequate proportion of each 
run of salmon to the streams for reproduction. 
Since the pink salmon are by far the most abundant species of the Pacific salmon 
in southeastern Alaska, the grouping of the various waters in this region into fishing 
districts and the regulations imposed therein have, to a great extent, been directed 
toward the conservation of this species. Hence, the more detailed tagging experiments 
have been limited to the pink salmon. 
The results from a study of the salmon catches, as well as from the early tagging 
experiments in Clarence and Sumner Straits, indicated that each of these large bodies 
of water formed the migratory channel of distinct runs of pink salmon. Although 
these waters were originally included in one fishing district, the Bureau realized that 
each should constitute a separate district and made the change at the first oppor- 
tunity, which occurred in 1934. After making this change further tagging work was 
carried on in the summers of 1935 and 1936 to determine the destinations of the pink 
salmon passing through each of these main channels at different times in the season. 
In order to give as complete a picture as possible of the pink-salmon migrations in 
these waters, the results from the earlier tagging experiments will be summarized and 
compared to those of this later work. 
PINK-SALMON TAGGING EXPERIMENTS IN CLARENCE STRAIT AND 
ADJACENT WATERS, 1924-32 
An inspection of the map in figure 1 will show that Clarence Strait and its ad- 
jacent waters, Revillagigedo Channel and Cordova Bay, do not open directly into the 
ocean but into a large body of water known as Dixon Entrance. Early in the develop- 
ment of the salmon fishery in these waters it was found that the first pink salmon to ap- 
pear each season usually migrated easterly through Dixon Entrance and turned north- 
ward and eastward along the mainland shores in the vicinity of Cape Fox. As the season 
progressed the numbers of salmon following this course of migration became more and 
more abundant and built up a very definite run into Revillagigedo Channel, Portland 
Canal, and their contiguous waters. A week to 10 days after the beginning of the 
3 For the results of the early tagging experiments see Rich (1926), Rich and Suomela (1927), Rich and Morton (1929), and Rich 
(1932). The locations of these experiments are given in figure 1. 
