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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
51 per cent above onr total. As already noted, the interception of the Karluk run in 
these years was due largely to the operation of traps near the entrance of the bays be- 
tween Outlet Cape and Karluk, and the increase in the number of salmon intercepted 
is in direct relation to the number of traps employed. Fishing appliances on that 
coast north of Cape Uyak in 1924, 1925, and 1926 took 1 fish out of the Karluk red- 
salmon run, as against 5 taken by seines on the Karluk beaches, whereas in 1927 with 
a considerable increase in the number of traps and nets 1 Karluk salmon was taken 
in that same area in comparison with 2 taken in beach seining at the river. 
It is apparent that the development of the fishery to the north and east of Karluk 
River is taking an increasing percentage of the total catch of Karluk reds. Bower 
gives the total catch of Karluk red salmon in 1927 as 600,778 while our figures show 
that only 398,726 were taken at Karluk beach. Over a third, then, of the total catch 
was made at other points and it may be expected that further expansion along this 
line will make deeper inroads into the Karluk run and reduce the catch correspondingly 
at the river, while the burden of conservation will fall heaviest upon operations nearest 
the streams. 
This change in the proportion of the run caught in these two localities further- 
more shows conclusively that a large part of the Karluk run comes from the north and 
closely follows the coast of Kodiak Island. It is not known to what extent it comes, 
if at all, through Kupreanof Strait or around the north end of Afognak and Shuyak 
Islands, for there is the possibility that the runs come in from the south and west, 
taking a mid-channel course and are not dispersed toward the Kodiak shore until 
after reaching the point in Shelikof Strait where the tides meet and cause a southward 
current to set along the northwest coast of Kodiak Island. 
It is definitely known that the fish taken in this part of the northwestern coast of 
Kodiak Island are derived largely from the Karluk River runs and should, therefore, 
properly be included in any complete consideration of the Karluk red-salmon runs. 
This was conclusively shown by tagging experiments conducted in Uganik Bay in 
1927. 13 No attempt has been made here, however, to consider the Karluk red-salmon 
run in this manner and Table 15 presents solely the catch made at the Karluk beach. 
It does not seem desirable in this report to consider in detail the many interesting 
and significant facts that appear in the history of the Karluk red-salmon fishery. 
These have been discussed in the report of Gilbert and Rich, to which the reader is 
referred, and will be given further consideration in connection with the future inten- 
sive investigations that are being carried on. The modifications in our data are not 
great enough to seriously change the conclusions reached by Gilbert and Rich; in 
fact they make still more apparent the fact that this run has been greatly depleted. 
The picture presented by Table 13 is one of gradual reduction from the early period 
of high productivity to a level approximately half that maintained from 1888 to 
1902. Until very recently there had been no material change in the laws and regu- 
lations to affect the fishing effort yet the good years were becoming less productive 
and the poor years were yielding constantly smaller catches. Catches in the four 
years from 1924 to 1927, however, were curtailed by the enforcement of a provision 
of the law of 1924 that wherever a weir was maintained in a salmon stream for the 
purpose of counting the salmon ascending to the spawning grounds, the escapement 
shall not be less than 50 per cent of the run. Even before this law was enacted 
13 Salmon-Tagging Experiments in Alaska, 1927 and 1928, by Willis H. Rich and Frederick O. Morton. Bulletin U. S. Bureau 
of Fisheries, Vol. XLV, 1929, Document No. 1057, 
