Bear Depredations on Red Salmon Spawning Populations in the Karluk River System, 1947

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Abstract
At Karluk Lake, Kokiak I., Alaska, the loss of spawning red salmon, Onchorhynchus nerka, to Kodiak bear, Ursus middendorffi, was measured in 1947. By erecting a counting weir on a typical confluent stream, and examining dead fish drifting downstream against the weir, it was ascertained that in 1947 the minimum loss of unspawned fish was 31.3%. This did not measure the loss in fish devoured by bear or carried away from the stream bed. Applying the 31.3% to all spawning red salmon available to the bear at the lake it was shown that the minimum loss in unspawned fish that yr. was 94,119, with a pack-value of approx. 0117,649. The loss in propagation is great, and control of the bear population in the area should be undertaken immediately.

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