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, 2021. |
| Author: | Eskelin, A., and A. W. Barclay. |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Report ID: | Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 22-06, Anchorage. |
| Abstract: | Chinook salmon were sampled for genetic tissue and age, sex, and length from the Upper Cook Inlet Eastside set gillnet (ESSN) commercial fishery in 2021. Mixed-stock analysis (MSA) was conducted on tissue samples collected to represent harvest by reporting group, date, area, and size. Reported harvest in the ESSN fishery was 1,297 Chinook salmon of all sizes (all-fish harvest), with an estimated composition of 909 (70%) Kenai River mainstem, 166 (13%) Kasilof River mainstem, 217 (17%) Cook Inlet other fish, and 4 (<1%) Kenai River tributaries 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 2021 was 217 fish (17% of the all-fish harvest and 66% of the large-fish harvest). Large Kenai River mainstem fish have composed on average 32% of the all-fish harvests since 2010 ranging from 17% (2021) 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 2021 was 32% age-1.1 (jacks), 40% age-1.2, 26% age-1.3, and 2% age-1.4 fish. The percentage of age-1.4 fish (2%) in the all-fish harvest was the lowest observed, and the percentage of jacks (33%) was the 2nd highest observed since sampling began in 1987. Sex composition of the all-fish harvest was 79% males and 21% females. The average mid eye to tail fork length of sampled Chinook salmon was 622 mm in 2021, 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 |