Fisheries, Subsistence, and Habitat
Publications Searchable Database
Search Again| Division: | Sport Fish |
| Title: | Eastside set gillnet Chinook salmon harvest composition in Upper Cook Inlet, Alaska, 2020. |
| Author: | Eskelin, A., and A. W. Barclay. |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Report ID: | Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 21-11, Anchorage. |
| Abstract: | Chinook salmon were sampled for genetic tissue and age, sex, and length from the Upper Cook Inlet Eastside set gillnet commercial fishery in 2020. Mixed-stock analysis (MSA) was conducted on tissue samples collected to represent harvest by date and area. Reported harvest in the ESSN fishery was 852 Chinook salmon of all sizes (all-fish harvest), with an estimated composition of 561 (66%) Kenai River mainstem, 163 (19%) Kasilof River mainstem, 21 (3%) Kenai River tributaries, and 107 (13%) Cook Inlet other fish. Kenai River mainstem fish have composed on average 70% of the all-fish harvest since 2010, ranging from 61% (2014) to 79% (2017). Estimated harvest of large (75 cm mid eye to tail fork and longer) Kenai River mainstem Chinook salmon in 2020 was 166 fish (19% of the all-fish harvest and 68% of the large fish harvest). Large Kenai River mainstem fish have composed on average 33% of the all-fish harvests since 2010 ranging from 19% (2020) to 63% (2017). Large Kenai River mainstem fish have composed on average 69% of the large fish harvest ranging from 60% (2010 and 2019) to 79% (2017). Age composition of the all-fish harvest in 2020 was 33% age-1.1 (jacks), 36% age-1.2, 22% age-1.3, and 9% age-1.4 fish. The percentage of age-1.4 fish (10%) in the all-fish harvest was the lowest observed, and the percentage of jacks (33%) was the highest observed since sampling began in 1987. Sex composition of the all-fish harvest was 88% males and 12% females. The average mid eye to tail fork length was 628 mm in 2020, the lowest ever observed. |
| Keywords: | Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, Upper Cook Inlet, UCI, Kenai River, Kasilof River, late run, mixed-stock analysis, MSA, ASL, ESSN, Eastside set gillnet commercial fishery |