Salted surimi pastes were prepared by griding walleye pollack surimi with 2.7% NaCl and 30% water-starch mixture. The salted surimi paste was set at 10°C for 0-48 h, followed by heating at 90°C for 30 min. During the setting an increase in breaking strength of the control paste without starch occurred accompanying with the formation of cross-linked myosin heavy chains. The addition of starch also increased the breaking strength with and without prior setting, whereas the setting effect on gel strength was apparently depressed by the addition of starch without the decrease in the cross-linking. The depression of setting response in the presence of starch, however, occurred more strongly under the conditions where the gel strengthening due to setting and addition of starch increased.