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Sean Larson Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries

Summer Chum Salmon Radio Telemetry Study. Sean Larson Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries. Summary. ADF&G is implementing a radio telemetry study on Yukon summer chum salmon.

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Sean Larson Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries

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  1. Summer Chum Salmon Radio Telemetry Study Sean Larson Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries

  2. Summary ADF&G is implementing a radio telemetry study on Yukon summer chum salmon • Use drift gillnets to catch and tag 1200 chum salmon near Russian Mission with spaghetti and radio tags • Track tagged salmon upriver with remote tracking stations and aerial surveys • First major effort to estimate summer chum run timing, distribution, and abundance, with consideration for specific stocks

  3. Importance • Fishing pressure is increasing • Need this study to manage specific stock groups • Need more information • Escapement estimates for spawning tributaries • Distribution among spawning areas • Stock specific run characteristics • AnvikRiver

  4. Anvik River • Before 2003: Summer chum salmon escapement represented 46% of fish passage estimated at the sonar near Pilot Station • After 2003:Average proportion has dropped to 23% • Where are they going?

  5. Primary Objectives • Estimate stock specific: • Run timing • Migration rates • Movement patterns • Distribution • Identify important spawning tributaries • Stock contribution to the overall run • Estimate drainagewide escapement • Identify the relationship between the Anvik River sonar and the sonar near Pilot Station

  6. Previous RT Studies • Chinook (2002-2004) • Fall Chum (1996-2001) • Summer Chum (2004) • Small feasibility study • 200 tagged • Relatively successful

  7. Russian Mission Russian Mission has several important geographic and fishery features that make it ideal for tagging • Beyond most harvests (minimal tag loss) • Narrow channel (easy capture) • EF Andreafsky River has a weir • Previous tagging efforts

  8. Tagging

  9. Tagging • Two crews • Up to 7.5 h/d • 7 d/w • 5 weeks • Max of 3 fish per drift • Gillnet configurations • 4.5” and 4.25” mesh size • 10 f long shackled together as needed • 7.6 m deep • Thicker and softer #21 seine twine to minimize injuries

  10. All fish will be handled as gently as possible to minimize stress (and placed in flow through water tank)

  11. Spaghetti tags will be white and located against the dorsal fin

  12. Radio tags will have an antennae protruding out of the mouth Should examine for both tags

  13. Tracking Upriver

  14. How Many Are There? • Monitoring/Assessment Projects Anvik Sonar - Gisasa River Weir - Henshaw Creek Weir - Chena River Tower - Salcha River Tower • Mark-recapture abundance estimate

  15. Where do they go? • Towers & Aerial Surveys • Monitoring/Assessment Projects Anvik Sonar - Gisasa River Weir - Henshaw Creek Weir - Chena River Tower - Salcha River Tower • Fishermen

  16. Summary • Tag 1200 summer chums near RM • Track salmon via towers and aircraft • Stock specific: • Distribution • Abundance • Run timing • Drainage wide abundance • Evaluate existing monitoring projects • Please keep an eye out for tagged fish

  17. Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund Alaska's allocation of funds from the federal Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund

  18. Questions? Photo Credit: Peter Mather

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