CHIGNIK TO RESURRECTION BAY SALMON STATISTICS 
691 
Sitkalidak Strait embraces a fishing area of more recent development than any 
other in this district, and it has become an outstanding producer of pink salmon, due 
chiefly to the introduction of traps. The first recorded catch of salmon in these waters 
was in 1917, when 926 cohos and 446 chums were taken. Beginning in 1918 with a 
catch of 148,916 pink salmon, the catch of that species has been consistently high. 
Omitting 1921, when no fishing was done, it has fallen below 200,000 only twice — 
in 1919 and 1924 — while in 1927 it reached the surprising total of 415,376. The devel- 
opment of this fishery is shown graphically in Table 26. Barling Bay, lately so named, 
is tributary to Sitkalidak Strait, and its yield of salmon rightly should be considered 
as a part of the Sitkalidak Strait catch, but it is shown separately in the table for 
future consideration in event a fishery of larger proportions develops at that point. 
By adding the Barling Bay catch in 1926 to the Sitkalidak Strait catch for that year, 
we have a total of 309,557, which is only 7,736 below the catch in 1925. It is apparent 
that here also, as elsewhere in the east coast of Kodiak Island district, there is no 
significant difference in the productivity of odd and even years. 
The Sitkalidak area contains no stream of unusual size or character which would 
make it more attractive to chums and pinks than the streams in other bays on this 
coast, but the catch with two exceptions has been consistently good. It is possible 
that Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound runs strike the Kodiak coast at Sitkalidak 
Strait and Kiliuda Bay, and are intercepted at these points, but there is no definite 
evidence that such is the case. 
Table 26. — Graphic table of catches of pink salmon in Sitkalidak Strait 
[Each letter represents 10,000 fish] 
Year 
Catch 
1918 
sssssssssssssss 
1919. _ 
ssss 
1920 
sssssssssssssssssssss 
1921 
1922 
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 
1923 
sssssssssssssssssssssss 
1924 
ssssssss 
1925 
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 
1926 
ssssssssssssssssssssssss 
1927 
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 
Kaguyak Bay, first fished in 1896, was abandoned until 1915, when a small 
catch of reds was made and was not again fished until 1924. The catches recorded 
as from Kaguyak probably include fish caught not only in Kaguyak Bay proper but 
at Kiavak and other bays between Sitkalidak Island and Kaguyak. 
Considering the east coast of Kodiak Island as a whole, it is found that the 
catch of king salmon has been unimportant, and that those of cohos and chums 
have fluctuated rather widely but without showing any marked trend. The red- 
salmon catches, as shown graphically in Table 27, show a definite decrease which 
may safely be ascribed to the depletion of the small runs originating chiefly in Ugak 
Bay, Chiniak Bay, and Buskin River. The pink-salmon catches, however, show a 
definite upward trend throughout the district (see Table 28), which is due in part 
to the development of a trap fishery. The contrasting pictures presented by the 
red and pink salmon catches in this district are interesting and suggestive and are 
typical of a fishery in which one more valuable species is being depleted and its 
place taken by a less valuable species. The pink salmon show no striking difference 
