| Summary: | PURSE SEINERS GET MOST FISH. PURSE SEINERS GET MOST FISH OLYMPIA, Saturday, May 23.— (U.P.)—With abolition of fish traps, 80 per cent of salmon caught in Washington waters is taken by purse seines, B. M. Brennan, state director of fisheries, reports. In a survey of the fishing industry from April 1 to December 31, 1935, Brennan showed 7,695,893 salmon were taken by purse seines out of 9,633,643 total catch. Trollers took 896,272, 712,531 were caught by gill nets, 222,336 by set nets, 90,960 by reef nets, 11,846 by Indian dip nets, and 4,150 by Indians using traps. Under initiative 77, Indians are permitted to use fish traps. Two operated in Skagit Bay last year. Sockeye Biggest Catch Of the five types of salmon, about 90 per cent of the sockeye were taken by purse seiners, silver salmon about half by trollers and half by purse seines. Pink salmon are almost exclusively caught in seines, as are chum. Chinook salmon are caught 40 per cent by trollers, 45 per cent by gill and set nets and the rest by other methods. Brennan's survey showed 8,686,106 salmon caught in waters in or adjacent to Puget Sound, 538,599 in the Grays Harbor district, 330,314 in Columbia River district, and 78,624 in Willapa Bay district. Of the total salmon landed in Puget Sound district in 1935, 68 per cent of the chinook and 61 per cent of the silvers were caught in extra-territorial waters. Few Steelheads Caught A few steelheads were caught commercially last year, 6,473 being taken by Indian dip nets in the Columbia, and 31,654 by gill nets in that river. "It is interesting to note that while Indians fishing under tribal privileges caught only 2 1/2 per cent of the total salmon taken, they took a little more than 25 per cent of the number taken in fresh water," Brennan commented. ''Ninety per cent of all salmon caught in the state were taken in salt water."
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