The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1933-09-25
BELL c Orr ECTS WORK AT HlRST'
|FR. Hu BIB Ard ON is PROGRESSING
SALMON STATUS SATISFACTORY
Commissioner Of Fisheries
Cites Record Of False
Pass Migration


CONTINUED from Page Ope)
tagged in False Pass was found
on sale in fish market in
Japan.
No pink salmon tagged in
False Pass were, to common
knowledge, ever recovered in
and American fishing grounds,
so probably they go enmasse
to Asia OF the tagged red
salmon. a small eight percent
were recovered in Bristol Bay.
Very likely the new government
surveys planned by the Gov
eminent during the next few
years in the Aleutian Islands
will shed more light on these
puzzling problems. The closing
of East Anchor Cove trap in
Ikutan Bay this year, whereas
no other traps in the area were
closed, was deemed by local
residents to be based an erron-
eous conception that False Pass,
geologicaIly speaking, is the
great fishing highway. today
that it was about half CEN
fury ago. The poor fish would
scrape their belly fins off on
the sand If they had to crowd
through in schools now, and
what an easy time the bears
would have
Studied by Gilbert
Extensive studies to determine
,he destination of the salmon pass
ing through waters on the south
side of the Alaska Peninsula were
made in the seasons of 1922 and
1923 by the late Doctor Charles
H. Gilbert, foremost authority on
the biology of the Pacific salmon
and Doctor Willis H. Rich, Profess
sor of Zoology at Stanford Uni
The findings Of these in
as published in Blu
reau of Fisheries documents Nos
DAB and 991, are clearly at var
lance with your statement appear
ing in the Daily Alaska Empire
I'm the course of these studies
12,462 red salmon were tagged
and released in the Shumagin
Islands and along the south side
of the Alaska Peninsula; subse-
quently 3,815 of these were recap
bured. OF all recaptured red sal
mon 1876 per cent were taken in
Bristol Bay. 1t was concluded
that the total migration to Bris-
toll Bay was not shown by these
figures because of the intensive
trap fishing on the south side of
The Alaska Peninsula through which
The liberated fish had to pass, and
It was stated that undoubtedly a
much larger part of the run was
bound for Bristol Bay.
Although attention was focused
On a study of the migration of
ed salmon, 624 ohum or dog and
SO pink or humpback salmon were
jagged in 1923. The pink salmon
we're all taken in the vicinity in
which they were tagged and al
hough the number was small it
vas concluded that the tagged fish
we're very largely, if not exclusive
y, of local origin. The tagged
hum or dog salmon were distrib-
tied over much the same territory
IS the red salmon.
One Siberian Return
There is but one record Of a
almon having been marked and
eleased in Alaskan waters and
captured in Siberia. A dog SAL
non tagged and released from a
rap on Unga Island was taken
n Pankara River, Kamchatka. In
these data to the Blu
eau in 1923 the Director of tina
lar Eastern Fishery Board, Vladi-
ostok, stated:
In August of this year,
in the river Pankara in the
district of Karagin, on the
astern shores of the Peninsula
of Kamchatka, a fish with the
mark u. S. B. F. No. l0358'
was caught. The local residents
did not pay any attention to
this mark, and the fish was
cleaned and salted, and in
this form it was discovered by
the agents Of the Far Eastern
Fishsries Board at Vladiyostok.
This fish, as far as we can
judge in its sailed state, was
of the family Qncoroynchus
kate. in all probability a male.
The length OF the fish is SO
centimeters, and it was in the
spawning stage. as it was in
wedding dress Changed color
and had grown teeth
Is Net Controversial
There has never been con-
royersy as to whether red salmon
,ound for Bristol Bay go through
false Pass or by way of Unimak
Pass. Regardless of the route ta-
zen it is known that Bristol Pay
ed salmon pass close to the south
coast Of the Alaska Peninsula
moving in and out of Ikatan and