8 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES- FISH COMMISSION. 
wliicli is well inside, and a long distance from the outside waters, is very early. There 
is a great variation in time even in adjoining streams; and while in some streams in 
southeast Alaska redflsh run early — that is, before July 1 — few canneries in that 
section begin to ojierate before July 1 to 7, and those that operate probably do not pay 
expenses; but they get their fisheries organized and the cannery in running order, and 
when the big ruTis commence they are ready for work. Pyramid Harbor and Wrangell, 
where a few king salmon are packed, commencing in May, should be excepted. 
In southeast Alaska different streams are often referred to as “early” or “late” 
for certain species, and while there is undoubtedly some difference, and occasionally 
considerable, it is probably not so great as is often imagined. A stream having a 
large number of salmon will have the earliest arrivals in sufficient numbers to make 
their presence apparent, while a stream iiroducing 5,000 to 10,000 will have so few 
early arrivals that they will not be noticed. 
Except at Karluk, where the runs frecpiently extend to the first of October, and 
in the large rivers, the cannerymen usually count on about six weeks for the duration 
of the run of redfish ; but if there is a variation in the time of commencing the run there 
is a still greater variation of time at the end, and in many localities much depends upon 
the stage of water in the river. If the water is low, so the fish can not ascend, they 
are held in the salt or brackish water and do not seem to ripen so rapidly, but if there 
is sufficient water they do not remain around the mouth of the river very long, but pass 
rapidly to the lakes. 
The bulk of the redfisli pack is made in July and the early part of August, though 
most of the canneries pack until the latter part of August, and some into September, 
but except at Karluk these are only a few fish that are taken in connection with the 
humpbacks and cohoes, which then form the body of the pack. 
Cohoes are not plentiful anywhere in Alaska. Those from the streams on the 
maiidand are said to be larger than those from the island streams. The run for 
commercial purposes commences the first week in August and continues until after 
the canneries close, September 20. There is, however, the same variation in the runs 
of cohoes as noted for redfish. The cannery at Wrangell, which packs cohoes from 
Lake Bay, usually commences canning the first week in July; at Tolstoi (Thorne Bay) 
the fish run nearly at the same time, but these are unusually “early” streams; as a 
rule, they are in other localities from three to four weeks later, though scattering 
fish are taken throughout the season. 
