Author: Julie BednarskiPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fish populations
Languages : en
Pages : 64
Book Description
Since 1967 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries, has operated a stock assessment program to estimate escapements and harvests of Chilkat sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). Sockeye salmon were counted through a weir near the outlet of Chilkat Lake, and age, length, and sex data were collected and analyzed each year. Since 1994, mark-recapture studies were conducted to estimate Chilkat sockeye salmon escapements. Since the start of the 2008 season, DIDSON sonar has been used at the weir site to directly enumerate adult sockeye salmon escapement into Chilkat Lake. Visual scale pattern analysis was conducted to determine the proportion of Chilkat sockeye salmon harvested annually in the District 15 commercial drift gillnet fishery. In addition, limnological sampling was conducted in Chilkat Lake and analyzed each year. The intent of this report was to review Chilkat sockeye salmon stock assessment data from 1971 to 2016. The visual and DIDSON weir counts provide an index of escapement; however concerns regarding mark-recapture as a reliable index of abundance lead us to recommend eliminating mark-recapture studies in 2017 and, instead, maintain the DIDSON to estimate escapement into Chilkat Lake. We also recommend reviewing the current Chilkat Lake biological escapement goal to ensure that the goal and escapement estimates are in the same units, which is currently based on mark-recapture units. An average of 77,800 Chilkat Lake sockeye salmon were harvested annually in the District 15 commercial drift gillnet fishery (1976-2016). A comparison of historical fish wheel counts to Chilkat Lake escapement estimates demonstrates that the fish wheel project provides a rough indication of Chilkat Lake run strength. Zooplankton samples from Chilkat Lake were composed primarily of one species of copepod (Cyclops columbianus) and three species of cladocerans (Bosmina longerostris, Daphnia longiremus, and Daphnia rosea).