662 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
In 1897, no catch was reported, while in 1898 Red River produced apparently 
only 60,000 red salmon, all of which were canned at Alitak. There are also no re- 
cords of catches in 1901, 1902, or 1903, although it may be accepted as indisputably 
true that once a fishery was established at Red River it was continued each year 
until 1922, even to the almost total extinction of the run, and was then stopped by 
Federal regulation. 
Beginning in 1904 and thereafter through 1922, catch statistics were taken from 
the sworn reports of operators at Red River, though in some of these years the figures 
may not tell the whole story. It is likely that in the earlier years of this period, 
part of the salmon taken here were credited elsewhere, probably Karluk. After the 
elimination of all but two packing companies operating on the west coast of Kodiak 
Island (the Alaska Packers Association and the Northwestern Fisheries Co.) it 
would appear that the reported catch of salmon at Red River might be accepted 
without question. Yet an examination of these records reveals that the only salmon 
taken at that fishery in 1904, 1905, and 1907, were reported by the Northwestern 
Fisheries Co. In the period from 1908 to 1914, both companies fished there except 
in 1911 when the Alaska Packers Association confined its fishing to Karluk Beach, 
Uganik Bay, and Little River. From 1914 to 1921, inclusive, the entire catch of 
salmon at Red River went to the Uyak Bay cannery of the Northwestern Fisheries 
Co., so that there should be no confusion of figures for that period. The rather 
insignificant catch of 1922 was made by three companies which had not previously 
fished in that locality. 
Red River is the only salmon stream of any importance in the southwest section 
of Kodiak Island between Karluk and Alitak Bay. It is a comparatively small 
stream, only about 50 feet in width, and rises in a lake and tributaries about 15 
miles inland beyond the glacial moraine through which it flows to the ocean, debouch- 
ing on a bold shore midway between Cape Ikolik and Low Cape. Between these 
points the coast is exposed to the full sweep of wind and sea from a southwesterly 
direction so that fishing is frequently interrupted for periods of varying length by 
storms from that quarter. Perhaps no season in all the history of the fishery has 
been without these interruptions, which in themselves should be regarded as favorable 
to the escapement of salmon into the stream, yet only one other known stream on 
Kodiak Island shows equally serious depletion of its salmon run, almost to the point 
of complete destruction. Considering also that Red River was strictly a beach-seine 
fishery, with more than average natural protection, it seems almost incredible that a 
substantial run should not have been stabilized in the stream. This is especially 
true in view of the fact that throughout the entire history of the fishery, from 1904 
until 1922, operations were carried on by not more than two companies, and after 
1914 by only one, and without that destructive competition which marked operations 
at many other localities in Alaska. In the same period no restrictive regulations 
were enforced other than those imposed by the act of June 26, 1906, which provided 
a weekly closed period of 36 hours and prohibited fishing within 100 yards outside 
of the mouth of all streams less than 500 feet in width. 
Assuming that the law was obeyed, no satisfactory explanation of the depletion 
of the red salmon run to this stream can be given ; but the conclusion may be reached 
safely that with such small streams, even favorable natural conditions for the preser- 
vation of a salmon run are inadequate unless supplemented by the enforcement of 
legal protection. Modern fishing methods and practices are capable of destroying a 
