Chinook Salmon Research Initiative
Nushagak River Chinook Salmon

Nushagak River Juvenile Chinook Salmon Abundance

Spring juvenile Chinook salmon coded-wire tagging project. Very little information is available regarding juvenile Chinook salmon in the Nushagak River. Coded wire tagging large numbers of juvenile Chinook salmon, combined with adult spawning abundance estimates, has provided valuable information regarding Chinook salmon stocks for multiple rivers in southeast Alaska, British Columbia, and in Washington and Oregon. Information obtained from these studies includes estimates of escapement, harvest, and smolt abundance. Combined, this information allows estimates of exploitation rate and marine survival. In 2014, beach seining and minnow trapping will occur in the lower portions of the Nushagak River below Portage Creek to capture Chinook salmon smolt as they migrate from the drainage. At this time it is unknown when and how many Chinook salmon smolt migrate out of the Nushagak River and this work will be used to assess the feasibility of implementing a large-scale juvenile tagging project in the system.

Nushagak River near Dillingham

$40,000

2014

Juvenile abundance

Juvenile

Nushagak River Chinook salmon