Commercial Salmon Fisheries
Taku River Fishwheels - Coho Counts

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Fish wheels on the Taku River are an essential platform for the Chinook, sockeye, and coho salmon mark-recapture program, which provides inseason and postseason escapement estimates. Because fish wheel catchability can be affected by factors such as water level, fish size, abundance, daily spin time, etc., daily fish wheel catches do not necessarily have a meaningful relationship with upriver abundance. In 2023, fish wheel operation protocols were changed (fish wheels operations are now 8 hours a day instead of 16 hours a day) so catch numbers are not comparable to previous years. Questions related to the Taku River fish wheel project can be directed to Jeff Williams at (907) 465-8251.

Bilateral mark-recapture data for Taku River coho salmon through day 7 of statistical week (SW) 39 (September 28 – end of recoveries) includes 1,037 tags released, 12,305 fish inspected, and 165 recoveries. Assuming a sulk rate of 3 days between the release and recapture locations, a Stratified Darroch was used to generate an inriver run estimate of coho salmon past Canyon Island as of September 28 (10-year average run timing = 98%).

Current estimates are as follows:

Inriver Run: 74,349 (SE = 5,780)
Canadian Harvest to Date: 12,305 (8,815 after SW33)
Current Escapement: 62,044
Projected Inriver Run: 76,209

U.S. Harvest to Date: 17,200 (14,300 after SW33)
Projected Terminal Run: 93,590

Preseason Forecast (terminal run): 123,000
10-year Average Terminal Run: 99,000

This is the final inseason estimate for Taku River salmon in 2024. We would like to extend our deep appreciation to all of our staff and collaborators for their hard work and positive contributions to another very successful season of Taku River stock assessment. Thanks to you all for the great work! Special mention to the TRTFN who conducted a collaborative food fishery in SW 38 and 39 in part to support coho salmon stock assessment.

Chilkoot Lake Weir | Chilkat Lake Weir | Hugh Smith Weir | Redoubt Lake Weir (Sockeye)
Situk (Lower) Weir (Chinook) | Situk (Lower) Weir (Sockeye) | Taku River Fishwheels (Sockeye)
Taku River Fishwheels (Coho)