706 
BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
East Foreland, though in a few recent seasons the district north of the Forelands 
produced almost half of the catch. Owing to the physical peculiarities of the inlet 
north of Anchor Point, where there are no bays or conspicuous indentations where 
fishing could be localized, it has been impracticable to attempt an allocation of the 
catch to particular streams, and it was necessary to adopt the names of localities 
used by the canning companies and show the catch at such places. By noting, for 
example, the catches at Bluff Point, Kalifonski, Cape Kasilof, Salamato, Nikishka, 
Point Possession, Deep Creek, and Clam Gulch, it might be inferred that important 
streams enter the inlet at these places, but such inference would be incorrect. These 
names and many others shown in the table are simply the designations of land- 
marks which bear no necessary relation to the probable destination of the salmon 
captured. It is quite certain, for example, that the traps at Bluff Point, or at 
Starichkof, take chiefly Kenai and Kasilof River fish rather than salmon bound to 
the streams nearest their respective locations. 
Only in some of the small bays below Anchor Point where salmon were taken 
by seines and gill nets, can definite allocations be made. Tagging experiments 
conducted in 1929 showed that in the region of Flat Island the salmon taken in the 
commercial fishery are chiefly of local origin, 20 but at Nubble Point in Kachemak 
Bay the catch of red salmon evidently comes from runs that belong to streams north 
of Anchor Point, presumably chiefly Kenai and Kasilof Rivers. South of the Fore- 
lands the salmon runs tend to follow the east shore north of Anchor Point, but above 
the Forelands they are dispersed to both shores. It is also significant that traps just 
north of Cape Kasilof show about the same catch as the traps just south of the Fore- 
lands, indicating that a considerable part of the run stands far enough off shore in 
passing through the lower part of the inlet to escape the traps there. Traps near the 
Kenai and Kasilof Rivers appear to be relatively better producers than any others, 
indicating with reasonable certainty that these rivers are the more important spawning 
streams in the district. The fact that traps as far north as Point Possession and 
Moose Point make as large catches as those located at Starichkof, Ninilchik, 
Porcupine, and Laida Creek in the southern part of the inlet is also significant as show- 
ing that salmon were fairly abundant even at the northern limit of the waters that 
are now open to commercial fishing. In view of that circumstance it seems probable 
that there are reasonable escapements to the streams of the upper part of Cook Inlet. 
The fishery along the western shore south of the Forelands obviously, has never 
been of great importance. Considering Cook Inlet as a whole, there is nothing to 
indicate depletion of the red salmon runs, though there have been rather wide fluc- 
tuations in catch in recent years. In general the catch shows no definite tendency 
to decrease and it does not appear probable that this is the result of a corresponding 
increase in the intensity of fishing. On the other hand the relatively stringent regu- 
lations that have been effective since 1924 do not seem to have affected the catch in 
the slightest. It is believed that Cook Inlet is decidedly limited in its productivity, 
and the prophesy is ventured that the district can not withstand any great increase 
in the exploitation of the salmon resources without grave danger of depletion. 
OTHER SPECIES 
Cook Inlet takes third place in the production of king salmon, being exceeded only 
by the catch by trollers in southeastern Alaska and the gill -net catch at Nushagak 
Bay in western Alaska. The history of the development of the king-salmon fishery 
» Salmon Tagging Experiments in Alaska, 1929 (1930), by Seton H. Thompson. 
