Fisheries, Subsistence, and Habitat
Publications Searchable Database
Search Again| Division: | Sport Fish |
| Title: | Assessment of coho salmon from the Kenai River, Alaska, 2001 |
| Author: | Massengill, R. and J. A. Carlon |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Report ID: | Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 04-24, Anchorage |
| Abstract: | Since 1991, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has assessed coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch of the Kenai River with an annual research program. As part of this ongoing study, coho salmon smolt were captured and marked with coded wire tags and adipose finclips at a weir on the Moose River, a tributary to the Kenai River, in 2000. An estimated 103,319 coho sa1mon were marked with adipose finclips, and of those, 102,300 were released alive with coded wire tags, and 213,789 were enumerated emigrating from the Moose River. In 2001, coho salmon smolt tagged in 2000 at the Moose River returned to the Kenai River as adults. Fish wheels and drift gillnets on the Kenai River, and a weir at the Russian River (tributary to the Kenai River), were used to capture returning adult coho salmon to estimate the proportion bearing coded wire tags, which in turn was used to estimate commercial harvest of Kenai River origin. Captured coho from these efforts were examined for the presence of an adipose finclip. Additionally, a tag detector wand was used to confirm tag presence in adipose finclipped coho at the fish wheels. The pooled fish wheel catch appeared most representative for use in estimating the commercial harvest of coho of Kenai River origin. The 2000 drainage-wide smolt abundance was an estimated 601,236 coho salmon (SE = 25,454), based on the pooled number of fish examined at the fish wheel (2,670), the number observed to be missing an adipose fin (458), and the number of smolt marked and released with an adipose finclip in 2000 (103,319). Based on the recovery of harvested adults marked with coded wire tags and adipose finclips in selected Upper Cook Inlet commercial fisheries, an estimated 282 (SE = 56) coho salmon of Kenai River origin were harvested in the Central District drift gillnet fishery and an estimated 349 (SE = 110) were harvested in the Central District eastside set gillnet fishery, and 1,303 (SE = 125) by all Northern District set gillnet fisheries for a total of 1,934 (SE = 176). Coho salmon of Kenai River origin comprised 0.7% of the total drift gillnet harvest, 8.2% of the total eastside set gillnet harvest, and 2.8% of the total Northern District set gillnet harvest in 2001. |
| Keywords: | coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, population assessment, sustained yield, contribution, commercial harvest, coded wire tag, Kenai River, smolt abundance, wild. |