SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES OF SWIFTSURE BANK 
817 
fishermen. Another factor may be lessened competition between gear on the even 
years, as usually there is a smaller fall fleet than on the odd years. 
All that can safely be said is that the purse-seine data seem to indicate that the 
general trend has remained about the same since 1915. Before that the data are 
scant but seem to indicate a higher level of abundance. 
SUMMARY 
By George A. Rottnsefell and George B. Kelez 
THE GILL-NET FISHERY 
On the Fraser River sock eye salmon was at first used to the practical exclusion 
of other species, but in later years the fishery was extended to include the others. 
Drift gill nets, introduced in 1864, have been the only gear used there. The fishery 
developed rapidly and the number of canneries increased steadily, reaching maxima 
of 49 plants in 1898 and in 1901 ; mergers and decreasing runs caused many of the plants 
to be closed thereafter. Less than a dozen have operated in any year since 1921. 
The Fraser River gill nets were at first fished mainly by Indians, later more white 
fishermen were engaged, and Japanese fishermen were introduced on the river in 
1888. The early flat-bottomed skiffs were replaced in the 1890’s by round-bottomed 
Columbia River boats, which were generally equipped with engines by about 1914. 
Each of these changes increased the efficiency of the individual units of gear. The 
number of gill nets licensed on the river reached a peak of more than 3,600 in 1900, 
but decreased considerably within a few years, until at the present time about half 
that number are employed. 
Regulations, some in effect since 1878, have limited the size and the mesh of gill 
nets, and have provided for a week-end closed season intended to permit escapement 
of salmon up the Fraser River. 
The sockeye, pink, and chum salmon overlap but slightly, in their seasonal 
occurrence on the Fraser River, but the runs of coho and king salmon are more 
extended. The bulk of the sockeye catches have been made between July 22 and 
August 25, those of the pinks, which are abundant only in odd-numbered years, 
between September 2 and September 29, and of the chums between October 7 and 
November 10. The major catch of cohoes is made between September 9 and October 
13, that of the kings between July 1 and September 15. 
Gill nets are of minor importance on Puget Sound, where they are used chiefly in 
or adjacent to the estuaries of the larger Puget Sound rivers, catching mainly coho 
and king salmon. 
THE TRAP FISHERY 
Salmon traps were driven in Puget Sound as early as 1880, but were not developed 
to a point of success until about 1891, at which time the first sockeye cannery was 
built on Puget Sound. This success caused a great expansion of the American fishery, 
and 163 traps were driven by 1900. The peak year for traps was 1913, when 168 were 
driven on Puget Sound, 2 in the Canadian waters of Boundary Bay, and 6 near Sooke 
on Vancouver Island. Available data show that between 1895 and 1934, over 156,- 
