1 / 26

Chum and Coho Salmon Spawning Distribution and Abundance in the Susitna River, Alaska

Chum and Coho Salmon Spawning Distribution and Abundance in the Susitna River, Alaska. Pete Cleary Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Sport Fish 1800 Glenn Highway Palmer, Alaska 99645 peter.cleary@alaska.gov. OUTLINE. 1. Overview of the Susitna River chum and coho

zia-beck
Download Presentation

Chum and Coho Salmon Spawning Distribution and Abundance in the Susitna River, Alaska

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Chum and Coho Salmon Spawning Distribution and Abundance in the Susitna River, Alaska Pete Cleary Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Sport Fish 1800 Glenn Highway Palmer, Alaska 99645 peter.cleary@alaska.gov

  2. OUTLINE 1. Overview of the Susitna River chum and coho salmon distribution and abundance - reasons for the study - methods 2. Results 2010 3. Some data from 2011.

  3. Cantwell Alaska Range Parks Highway Talkeetna Talkeetna Mountains Yentna River Susitna River Glenn Highway Wasilla Palmer Chugach Mountains Cook Inlet Anchorage

  4. Fish Wheels 2 Susitna River 1 Yentna River Mainstem Camp Tracking Station 1 2 Fish Wheels 4 3 Flathorn Camp ~18 miles to Cook Inlet ~30 miles to Anchorage

  5. Chulitna R Susitna R. Aerial Survey area Talkeetna R. Skwentna R. Yentna R. Susitna R. Palmer Flathorn Anchorage

  6. Wasilla

  7. Results…..

  8. CONCLUSIONS: • Chum Salmon: • Utilize more “mainstem” and “side slough” areas. 2010 – 65% in either Yentna, Susitna, or Skwentna mainstem. • Coho Salmon: • Utilize a wide variety of drainage morphologies throughout the entire watershed.

  9. FUTURE: Distribution and Abundance estimation for coho salmon will continue through 2014. Distribution of Chinook Salmon will continue through 2014 (2012 first year)

  10. Abundance estimates Little information on Susitna coho and chum salmon stocks Contribute to Cook Inlet fisheries Conservation and allocation issue Proposed hydroelectric dam – upper Susitna River

  11. Fish Wheels 2 Susitna River 1 Yentna River Mainstem Camp Tracking Station 1 2 Fish Wheels 4 3 Flathorn Camp ~18 miles to Cook Inlet ~30 miles to Anchorage

  12. Objectives • Tag chum and coho salmon with dart tags • Deploy esophageal radio tags in chum and coho • Generate abundance estimates for chum and coho stocks

  13. Methods • Capture and recapture using fish wheels • Four wheels used for deployment • Four fish wheels upstream – (Yentna and Mainstem Susitna River)

  14. Sampling

  15. Results Tags deployed: Coho – 6,993 Chum – 4,598

  16. Yenta River Total Catch: Coho - 6,134 Chum - 6,191 Tags Recovered: Coho - 176 Chum - 158

  17. Mainstem: Total Catch Coho - 643 Chum – 1,291 Tags recovered Coho - 15 Chum - 23

  18. Abundance Estimates - Chum Yentna River: 202,000 95% CI: 110,000 – 292,000) Mainstem Susitna River:155,000 95% CI: 103,000 – 272,000) Entire Susitna Watershed: 357,000 95% CI: 285,000 – 476,000)

  19. Abundance estimates - Coho Mainstem Susitna River: 60,000 (95% CI: 29,000 – 127,000) Yentna River 136,000 (95% CI: 99,000 – 206,000) Entire Susitna Watershed: 196,000 (95% CI: 153,000 – 283,000)

  20. Deployment (Flathorn) 2010 2011 Tags deployed Coho – 6,933 Chum – 4,598 Tags deployed Coho – 6,661 Chum – 37,805 Mainstem Yentna 2010 2011 2010 2011 Total Catch Coho – 647 Chum – 1,291 Total Catch Coho - 2,801 Chum - 34,743 Total Catch Coho - 6,134 Chum - 6,191 Total Catch Coho – 6,336 Chum – 16,406 Tag Recoveries Tag Recoveries Tag Recoveries Tag Recoveries Coho - 46 Chum - 713 Coho - 174 Chum - 159 Coho – 15 Chum – 23 Coho - 281 Chum - 478

  21. Thank you

  22. Acknowledgments Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund Richard Yanusz Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish Rick Merizon Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Wildlife Conservation (Formerly of the Division of Sport Fish) Nick Logelin Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Sport Fish Dave Westerman Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries

More Related