A Summary of the 1966 and 1967 Results of the Dixon

A SUMMARY OF THE 1966 AND 1967 RESULTS OF THE DI XON ENTRANCE SALMON INVESTIGATION

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Department of Fisheries of Canada _Vancouver, B. C. MARCH, 1968 A SUMJYiA.l\Y OF THE 1966 AND 1967 RESULTS OF THE DIXON ENTRANCE SALMON INVESTIGATION

In 1966", a salmon tagging and research fishing program was conducted i n Dixon Entrance during the period June 28 to August 26, utilizing three purse-seine vessels and six gillnet vessels chartered on a full-time basis. In addition, associated salmon tagging was conducted at Dundas Island and in Browning Entrance from drum-seine vessels chartered during weekly closed periods throughout the salmon season. With some modifications, primarily a reduction in research fishing effort and a substi tution of troll tagging for seine tagging in some locations, the 1966 program was repeated in 1967. The following briefly summarizes the results of the 1966 a:-_ ::: 1967 studies. Most of the resul ts are presented in summary ) tables. Because of this format, results have been grouped or averaged. ana some specific results have bee:q. obscured. Examples

i~ clude seasonal variations, hidden by the use of annual averages, and contributions of individual stocks, lost by group i ng tag recoveries into two regions - British Columbia and Alaska. The more meaningful results, not apparent in the summary tables, are described in the accompanying text. A full report is being prepared. and will be distributed. when it is completed.

_) -2- DIXON ENTRANCE I Tagging In both years pink salmon were the predominant species taggec. Pinks comprised 84 percent of the total of 11,611 salmon tagged in 1966 and 60 percent of the 6,982 salmon tagged in 1967.

TABLE I. Numbers of salmon tagged by species in Dixon Entrance in· 1966 and. 1967 and t he numbers and proportions of Commer- cial tag recoveries in British Columbia and Alaska.

Commercial Recoveries British Columbia Alaska Number Sneci es Year Tagged No. % No. L - Pink 1966 9795 1208 39 1862 61 1967 4210 894* 95 51 5 Sockeye 1966 738 270 87 39 13 ' \ 1967 1014 461 97 16 3 . Coho 1966 760 147 81 34 19 1967 1284 160 93 ll+ ~ 7 Chum 1966 307 53 75 18 25 1967 335 35 85 6 15 Chinook 1966 11 2 67 l 33 1967 139 13 72 5*-* 28 *Includes 19 recoveries in U.S. Convention Waters. **Recovered in '.:J. shington and Oregon.

~r. ( As shown in Table I, the proportion of tags recovered in '•'' British Columbia was greater in 1967 than in 1966, for all species. This relationship was particularly pronounced for pink salmon in that 95 percent of the recoveries were· taken in British Columbia iri 1967 as opposed to only 39 percent in 1966.

'. -3- .30;-1e danger exists in drawing comparisons between 1966 and 1967 tagging results since unequal fishing intensity in southeastern Alaska and no ~ thern British Columbia in 1967 may have biased tagging results. ·while both regions recorded poor pink salmon returns, Alaskan returns were particularly weak and fishing regulations were consequently more restrictive than those imposed in northern British Columbia. With regard to the recovery patterns of sockeye, coho and chum salmon, the results, in general, from both 1966 and 1967 indicate the presence of a high proportion of British Columbia bound salmon in each of the five tagging regions.· (Table II, Figure 1). By comparison, the 1966 pin_~ salmon

TABLE II. Percentages of commercial tag recoveries in British Columbia by species, from tagging conducted in the five regions in Dixon Entrance in 1966 and 1967.

P e ~cent of Commercial Recoveries in British Columbia Tagging Reg-ion Pink Socke2:e Coho Chum Chinook 1966 l1uzon 27 78 73 88 Chacon 9 1+5 86 33 Zayas 27 85 78 71 100 Langara 72 94 82 82 North Q.C.I. 72 93 83 78

1967 Muzon 88* 95 92 83 75 Chacon 87 97 100 100 Zayas 95* 96 94 75 Langara 96* 97 90 93 50 North Q.C.I. 97* 98 92 85 100 *Includes U.S. recoveries from the I.P.S.F.C. Convention Area. -4-

tagging results showed that Alaskan pink salmon predominated in the three northern regions (Muz on, Chacon and Zayas) whereas British Columbia pinks predominated in the two southern regions (Langara and :N orth Q.C.I.). In contrast, the 1967 tagging demonstrated that British Columbia bound pink salmon predominated in each of the five tagging regions and in fact comprised 87 percent or more of the fish present, even in the border regions. TABLE III. Percentage distribution of commercial recoveries of pink salmon tagged in the five regions in Dixon Entrance in 1966.

i- - I i T8.gging Ref.ion Muzon Chacon Zavas Langara North g.c.r. Total I I I_. 1'Tur::."J er Ta.gged 149 247 5'980 561 2858 9795 I F - · · ~-. '~n"l" I • \I • . • • : I\:.• .- B. -:? c o ~7e red 3Z 6Z 2080 180 zos 3ozo I: Recovery ! Location Percent of Commercial Recoveries British Columbia Area l l.5 1.7 l. l 14.l 4.5 A2•ea j 3.0 7.7 5.6 I 6. 8 7.2 L·_ Ar.ea ' 8.1 .:.i.1 21.6 18.2 13.l k c·-e a s 5 & 6 18.9 4.5 5.0 35.5 24.o 11.4 L:::·eas 7 .:>... 8 0.6 6.6 5.1 2.0 AI·eas 9 & 10 0.1- 0.6 0.5 0.2 Areas l.!.-19 0.6 0.7 0.2 Other 0.1 0.6 1.3 0.4 Unknow:i __Q.:J_ ~ ~ Total 27.0 9.0 26.7 72.2 71.6 39.3

· Alaska Area 101 32.4 32.8 23.6 12.2 11.9 20.6 Lr ea 102 13. 5· 20.9 27.5 11. l 9.6 22'. l Lr· ea 103 2.7 4.5 3.7 l. l 2.4 4.1 Areas 106 & 107 16.2 29.8 13.8 2.8 2.4 10.9 o-~her 2.7 1.2 0.6 LO l.4 UILl.cno-vm ~ -1:...Q __0_l_ --1.:.Q _1:..:.1. Total 73.0 91.0 73.3 27.8 28.4 60.7

Recovery Rate (%) 24.8 27.1 34.8 32.1 24.8 31.3 -5-

'..:' ables III and IV sh.ow the percentage of tag recoveries

oy s~ a tistical area (Figu~e 2) from pink salmon tagging in

~ive regions in Dixon Entrance i n 1966 and 1967.

~·J:. 3 :.:6 I.V. Pe:.."centage distribution of commercial recoveries of pink salrc.or:. tagged in five regions in Dixon Entrance in 1967.

Muz o~~ '~£- "'l2.. s Lar1gara North O.C.I. Tot8.l

110 168 205)' 1286 4210 :;;"'..lI.'.lber Recovered 102 31 57 447 308 945 Recovery Lo c2. t i on Percent o~ Commercial Recoveries

B r~t ish Columbia ,.['_--_:· C; [_ 2.2 l. 6 l. 6 Li.5 ,.. 1-:..-.:: ea 22.4 38.7 I .o 26.8 28.9 28.3 4-3. l 35.5 Lt.).I""\ 9 27.3 27.6 30. 4 5 & 6 9.8 9.7 2.5 7.1 5.9 '(· & 8 1.0 2.5 1.3 1.7 .-_:..:·2as s; & 10 2.0 l. 8 0.9 0.3 0.8 ..; c _ ~ :~sto~:e Str. 9.8 22.8 21.8 18.9 Co :::--.:.v ent:'..o:'l Waters 2.0 5.4 5.5 4.5 ' on ::,·~,_:· :::.:.V\·J:n ~ ~ --9.J 0.4 Total 92. 9 92.8 94.5 92. 6

U.S. Convention Waters 1.0 0 l. 8 2.9 l. 2 2.0

Alaska )_,_ A-.::ea 101 6.9 6 . ' 5.3 2.7 3.2 3.6 Other ~ 6 . - 1.6 _L_Q 1.8 Total 11.8 5.3 4.3 4.2 5.4

Recover y Rate C%) 17.2 28.2 33.9 21.8 23.9 22.4 The Ji9~t6: taggl.ng re.sult.. s .revealed tha:t a large

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commercial catch statistics, indicate that of those pink salmon passing through Dixon Entrance in 1967, more than 900,000 were subsequently caught in Areas 3 and 4, approxi mately 100,000 were caught in southeastern Alaska, and perhaps as many as one million were landed in fisheries located in Johnstone Strait and in the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission Convention Area.

II Research Fishing Research fishing in both years was carried out from June 27 to August 27 by charter vessels using ''West Coast" gillnet and purse-seine gear, i.e. 300 fathom x 90 mesh gillnets and 300 fathom purse-seines. Research fishing results are listed in Table V and highlighted below. Perhaps the most important finding of the research fishing study was that a relative disparity between the effectiveness of gillnet and seine gear was apparent in Dixon Entrance. Gillnets were able to operate effectively in all regions of Dixon Entrance in both years although the 1967 catches reflected both the lower general abundance of pink salmon in that year and the relatively greater avail ability of salmon along the north coast of Graham Island. By comparison seining was ineffective. Even during 1966 when pink salmon were abundant, seine catches were poor, averaging only 171 salmon per set in the most productive fishing region. TABLE V. Dixon Entrance s;almon research ~ishin g 1966 and 1967. GILLNET SEINE 1966 1967 1966 1967

Vessels Operating 6 4 3 2 Total Catch 902768 33,520 30,309 5,557 Sockeye 5,460 6,963 1,607 1,058 Coho 12,165 9,714 2,950 589 Pink 68,434 14,381 24,678 3,456 Chum 4,458 2,153 936 340

Chinook 251 309 184 114 I ()) Total Effort 2569.5 Hrs. 2530 Hours 231 Sets 164 Sets I Catch/Unit Effort Catch/Hour Catch/Hour Catch/Set Catch/Set Overall Average 35.2 13.2 131.0 33.9 By Region Muzon 19.6 10.1 46.8 31.2 Chacon 41.1 8.4 36.5 13.2 Zayas 31.1 8.6 171.7 20.6 Langara 25.8 17.9 52.4 45.5 North Q.C.I. 42.2 18.6 124.1 42.8 ·- -9- Although pink salmon were by far the most abundant species, substantial numbers of both so.ckeye and coho salmon ··'.' were landed by gillnets in both years. As a point of information it should be emphasized that, on the basis of tagging results, a high proportion of the sockeye and coho present in Dixon Entrance in both 1966 and 1967 were destined for British Columbia streams.

BROWNING ENTRANCE Commercial catches of pink salmon in the Browning Entrance gillnet fishery exhibit a pronounced even-year dominance. Recent Browning Entrance catches, as estimated from field reports, are listed in Table VI.

TABLE VI. Estimated gillnet catch of pink salmon in Browning Entrance, 1962-1967.

1962 - 895,000 1963 - 109,000 1964 - 226,000 1965 - 103,000 1966 - 260,000 1967 - 2,000

During even-numbered years substantial numbers of pink salmon are caught in Browning Entrance from late June until early September. Odd-year catches in this fishery, and catches in fisheries inshore on both cycles, are relatively small until August. Consequently it was suspected that pinks originating in other areas contribute to the Browning Entrance catch during even-numbered years. The objective of the 1966 and 1967 taggings -10- was to assess this and to determine the origin of non-local stocks, if present. Tagging was conducted throughout July and August in both years. In 1966 a total of 1960 pinks was tagged in this area from a seine vessel but because of operational difficulties most of the tagging was conducted close to shore. The results from this tagging showed that the distribution of tag recoveries varied with the tagging location (Table VII, Figure 3). From tagging conducted onshore, recoveries were almost entirely local, i.e. from Areas 4 and 5. By contrast, from tagging conducted a few miles offshore near the net fishing limit, Alaskan fisheries contributed 50 to 90 per cent of the recover ies. It should be pointed out that no tagging was conducted offshore during August. In 1967, tagging was conducted from a commercial troll vessel in order to overcome certain of the operational difficulties encountered in 1966, but in spite of very intensive effort, only 47 pink salmon were tagged. The few recoveries from the 1967 tagging were all local (Table VII). The limited tagging results indicate very strongly that the composition of the pink salmon stocks located in the offshore region of Browning Entrance in 1966, at least during July, were predominantly of Alaskan origin. If the migration pattern exhibited by those stocks in 1966 typifies the even year pattern, this would explain the magnitude of the early season, even-year gillnet catches in Browning Entrance during the past three cycles. Further to this, the relatively large -11- even-year catches of pink salmon recorded recently by the Hecate Strait troll fleet (Table VIII) suggests that the Browning Entrance net fishery has been operating on the fringe of a large population of pink salmon, the presence of which in Hecate Strait has been an even-year occurrence.

TABLE VII. Distribution of commercial recoveries of pink salmon tagged in Browning Entrance in 1966 and 1967.

Commercial Recoveries British Columbia Alaska Number Tagging Location Year Tagged No. _!_ No. L l. Onshore 1966 1358 574 99 4 l 1967 9 4 100 0 0 2. Offshore, inside net limit 1966 525 75 50 76 50 1967 11 2 100 0 0 3. Offshore, outside net limit 1966 180 5 10 44 90 1967 27 4 100 0 0

TABLE VIII. Troll catches of pirik salmon in Hecate Strait, 1962-1967. (Areas 2AE, 2BE, 4, 5 & 6)

1962 - 166,900 1963 - 37,500 .,.. ... ~ · · }' , ' .· . 1964 243,600 1965 85,500 .. " 1966 - 355,000 1967 - 29,000 -12-

DUNDAS ISLAND Tagging was conducted in the standard commercial fishing locations in Sub-Areas 3X and 3Y (Figure 3) throughout the salmon season in both 1966 and 1967, utilizing a drum-seine vessel chartered during the weekly closed periods. Tagging results for sockeye and pink salmon, the main species tagged, are listed in Table IX.

TABLE IX. Percent distribution of commercial recoveries of sockeye and pink salmon tagged in Sub-Areas 3X and 3Y in 1966 and 1967.

Percent of commercial recoveries British Columbia Alaska Tagging Number Species Year Location Tagged Sub-Area 3Z Area 4 Total Area 101 Total Sockeye 1966 3X 1027 9 74 93 7 7 . •.. 3Y 472 3 88 99 l l 1967 3X 182 l 92 100 0 o· JY 130 8 78 96 4 4

Pink 1966 3X 626 22 25 74 24 26 3Y 1737 22 57 96 4 4 1967 3X 31 50 50 100 0 0 3Y 365 72 14 86 14 14

As illustrated in Table IX, Area 4 was the major recovery

area for sockeye, contributing 74 percent or more of the r~coveries from each tagging location in both years. The recovery pattern for pink salmon differed in that a high proportion of the recoveries were returned from both Area 4 and Sub-Area 3Z, and that the proportion of 3Z recoveries in 1967 was more than double that of 1966. The proportion of Alaskan recoveries was variable, but -13- greater for pink salmon than for sockeye, and greater for both species in 1966 than in 1967.

A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE 1966 AND 1967 PINK SALMON MIGRATIONS IN THE DIXON ENTRANCE - HECATE STRAIT REGION

In 1966,upwards of 20 million pink salmon migrated through Dixon Entrance enroute to streams located within 180 miles north or south of the British Columbia - Alaska boundary. Tagging and research fishing results indicate that a high proportion of these pink salmon, perhaps as much as one-half the total migration, entered Dixon Entrance from the south via Hecate Strait. In general, stocks destined to 1· Alaskan mainland areas and to Area 3 in British Columbia, entered Dixon Entrance from Hecate Strait throughout July and to a lesser extent during August while those . . ~ · ~. stocks destined to non-mainland Alaskan areas and to Areas 4, 5 ' . . and 6 in British Columbia, entered via the western entrance, primarily during August. The entrance route of pink salmon destined to Massett Inlet was not defined. The magnitude and timing of even-year pink salmon catches in the Hecate Strait and Browning Entrance fisheries for the 1962; 1964; and 1966 cycles at least, suggests that a northern migration of pink salmon from Hecate Strait may be a regular even-year occurrence. In 1967, pink salmon migrating through Dixon Entrance apparently entered via the western entrance exclusively. Essentially only three stocks were involved and these were pink salmon migrating to Area 3, to Area 4 and to the Fraser River. -14- Aside from the relative scarcity of Alaskan pink salmon in Di xon Entrance during 1967, which may have been simply a r eflection of the poor pink returns recorded in the Alaskan Border areas in 1967, evidence from previous tagging suggests tha t the general migration pattern in 1967, which involved basically an approach from the northwest, is typical of the odd - year migration pattern exhibited by pink salmon in the general northern British Columbia - Southeastern Alaska region. With regard to the presence of substantial numbers of Fraser River bound pink salmon in Dixon Entrance during August of 1967, no comment can be offered other than that the situation had never been previously reported.

\ 4 APE MUZON CAPE CHACON ALASKA ,------JV-···-···-···-···-···-···-···-···-···-··· -···-1sf:i1TisHcol.uMsi°A I I I I ZAYAS I I I. r/)/( I MUZON CHACON l ZAYAS / ouN~~-~ \ I I I I II ------__I : ! ,L ______~~

1 LANGARA 1 NORTH Q.C.I. / 0 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

Figure 1~ Tagging and research fishing regions in Dixon Entrance. ·. -·.

0 \ IOI \ 3 -···- ·· _.. · · -·· · -··----~

Figure 2. Statistical areas in northern British Columbia and southeast Alaska. / r \ _ ... A~~SK.~-···- .. . - .. ,-... - ... _ ... J" ClANADA 3 X ! '3Y

' . ------'

HECATE ST RAIT

TAGGING SITES

Dundas Island -

Browning Entrance BANKS Onshore -CD . Inside -@ Outside - G)

Figure J. Dundas Island and Browning Entrance tagging sites.