SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES OF SWIFTSURE BANK 
797 
Cobb (1911) stated: 
In most places the flesh is of a deep salmon red, but in certain places, notably Southeast Alaska, 
Bristol Bay, Puget Sound, and British Columbia, many of the fish, the proportion being sometimes 
as much as one-third of the catch, have white flesh. No reasonable explanation of this phenomenon 
has yet been given. 
Aside from color, the flesh of white and red kings taken at the same time in the 
fishery is of the same quality. This, together with the definite difference in proportion 
of white kings in various districts of the region throughout the season, which will be 
discussed later, indicates a strong possibility of a hereditary color-characteristic. 
The Fraser River king pack is canned as red, pink, and white kings. It is possible 
that a part of the late-season pack may consist of red kings whose color has faded 
with approaching sexual maturity. However, heavy catches of white kings are made 
by trailers off the west coast of Vancouver Island in late July and August, at which 
time the color cannot be ascribed to changes accompanying sexual development. 
Since these fish are not caught below Destruction Island, southwest of Cape Flattery, 
it is highly probable that they are part of the run which appears in the northern part 
of Puget Sound in September. 
LOCALITY OF CAPTURE BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF GEAR 
CATCHES IN VARIOUS DISTRICTS 
The demands of the fresh-fish markets, and methods of processing other than 
canning, have absorbed the greater part of the catches of king salmon, hence the 
canned packs are of little use in determining the annual catch of the species. The 
catch on Puget Sound alone has averaged 264,000 fish a year during the 20-year 
period from 1915-34. The catch by 5-year intervals during this time was 1,597,246 
fish from 1915-19; 1,219,492 fish from 1920-24; 1,380,225 fish from 1925-29; and 
1,087,693 fish from 1930-34. 
It is exceedingly difficult to obtain catch records for all districts of the region, 
but data are available for the period from 1927-34 for all districts except the Fraser 
River. For this district the canned pack has been converted to number of fish and 
it represents only a part of the early run on the river, but includes the greater part of 
the fall run. A small number of kings landed by trailers in the northern portion of the 
Gulf of Georgia have not been included. These data are presented in table 41. 
Table 41. — Catch of king salmon, 1927-34 
Year 
Puget 
Sound 
traps 
Purse-seines 
Trailers 
Puget 
Sound 
gill 
nets 
Minor 
Puget 
Sound 
gear 
Fraser 
River 
catch i 
Total, 
all 
gear 
Puget 
Sound 
High 
seas 
Puget 
Sound 
High 
seas 
1927 - 
227, 909 
18, 370 
6, 818 
1, 870 
235, 866 
37, 580 
2, 033 
53, 770 
584, 216 
1928 
198, 443 
11,025 
4,067 
1,651 
213, 784 
31, 195 
900 
11,629 
472, 694 
1929 - 
249, 353 
14, 181 
13,817 
1, 366 
206, 073 
44, 485 
2, 257 
23, 533 
555, 065 
1930 
208, 872 
17, 136 
8, 791 
2,645 
235, 425 
49, 934 
1, 558 
51, 084 
675, 445 
1931 - - - 
156, 207 
21, 497 
13, 957 
1,156 
245, 611 
28, 522 
516 
28,712 
496, 178 
1932 
137, 770 
20, 670 
6, 897 
192 
169,530 
20,910 
24 
84, 722 
440, 716 
1933 
162, 991 
23, 916 
4, 596 
68 
113,512 
22, 960 
667 
16, 483 
345, 193 
1934 
165, 013 
15, 606 
10, 490 
9, 337 
125, 377 
19, 250 
276 
46, 227 
391, 676 
Total 
1, 506, 658 
142, 401 
69, 433 
18, 285 
1, 545, 178 
254, 836 
8,231 
316, 160 
3, 861, 082 
Converted from cases packed from fish caught on the Fraser River; does not include kings used for purposes other than canning. 
