Chum Salmon Stock Status and Escapement Goals in Southeast Alaska

Chum Salmon Stock Status and Escapement Goals in Southeast Alaska
Author: Andrew W. Piston
Publisher:
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2017
Genre: Chum salmon
ISBN:

In Southeast Alaska, chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) spawn in more than 1,200 streams. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game maintains a standardized survey program to index spawning chum salmon abundance at 87 summer-run and seven fall-run streams. Lower-bound sustainable escapement goals are established for summer-run stocks comprising aggregates of index streams over three broad subregions (Southern Southeast, Northern Southeast Inside, and Northern Southeast Outside) and sustainable escapement goal ranges are established for five fall-run stocks that support directed fisheries (Cholmondeley Sound, Port Camden, Security Bay, Excursion River, and Chilkat River). We reviewed chum salmon escapement goals and recommend that summer-run chum salmon goals continue to be based on the 25th percentiles of historical escapement index counts, primarily due to the uncertainty regarding harvest rates. We recommend reducing the Northern Southeast Inside Subregion lower-bound sustainable escapement goal from 119,000 to 107,000 fish. For fall-run chum salmon stocks, except for the Chilkat River, we also recommend continuing to base escapement goals on the 25th and 75th percentiles of historical escapement index counts, and recommend no changes at this time. Summer-run chum salmon escapement goals were met in four of the past five years in the Southern Southeast and Northern Southeast Outside subregions, and in three of the past five years in the Northern Southeast Inside Subregion. Escapement goals were met for the five fall-run stocks 84% of the time over the past 5 years. The annual common property harvest of chum salmon in Southeast Alaska averaged 6.9 million fish per year since 2007; hatchery-produced fish accounted for an average 85% of that harvest. No Southeast Alaska stocks of chum salmon currently meet the criteria for stocks of concern as defined by the State of Alaska's Policy for Management of Sustainable Salmon Fisheries (5 AAC 39.222).

Chum Salmon Stock Status and Escapement Goals in Southeast Alaska Through 2019

Chum Salmon Stock Status and Escapement Goals in Southeast Alaska Through 2019
Author: Andrew W. Piston
Publisher:
Total Pages: 86
Release: 2020
Genre: Chum salmon
ISBN:

In Southeast Alaska, chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) spawn in more than 1,200 streams. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game maintains a standardized survey program to index spawning chum salmon abundance at 87 summer-run and seven fall-run streams. Lower-bound sustainable escapement goals are established for summer-run stocks comprising aggregates of index streams over three broad subregions (Southern Southeast, Northern Southeast Inside, and Northern Southeast Outside), and sustainable escapement goal ranges are established for five fall-run stocks that support directed fisheries (Cholmondeley Sound, Port Camden, Security Bay, Excursion River, and Chilkat River). Summer-run chum salmon escapement goals were met in all of the past five years in the Southern Southeast Subregion, four of the past five years in the Northern Southeast Inside Subregion, and three of the past five years in the Northern Southeast Outside Subregion. Escapement goals were met for the five fall-run stocks 83% of the time over the past five years. No Southeast Alaska stocks of chum salmon currently meet the criteria for stocks of concern as defined by the State of Alaska’s Policy for the Management of Sustainable Salmon Fisheries (5 AAC 39.222). We reviewed chum salmon escapement goals and recommend no changes at this time. The annual common property harvest of chum salmon in Southeast Alaska averaged 7.7 million fish per year since 2010; hatchery-produced fish accounted for an average 86% of that harvest. Increased straying of hatchery chum salmon into streams in the Northern Southeast Outside Subregion from a new release site at Crawfish Inlet has complicated the assessment of wild chum salmon in that subregion and additional sampling is needed to determine the variation and geographic extent of straying from the new release site.

Review of Salmon Escapement Goals in Southeast Alaska, 2020

Review of Salmon Escapement Goals in Southeast Alaska, 2020
Author: Steven C. Heinl
Publisher:
Total Pages: 93
Release: 2021
Genre: Escapement (Fisheries)
ISBN:

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game interdivisional escapement goal review committee reviewed Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. escapement goals for Southeast Alaska in August of 2019 and again early in 2020. Escapement goals were reviewed based on the Policy for the Management of Sustainable Salmon Fisheries (5 AAC 39.222) and the Policy for Statewide Escapement Goals (5 AAC 39.223) adopted by the Alaska Board of Fisheries into regulation in 2001. There is a total of 47 escapement goals in Southeast Alaska for 11 Chinook, 12 sockeye, 13 coho, 3 pink, and 8 chum salmon stocks. The Southeast escapement goal review committee recommended changes to these goals to the directors of the Divisions of Commercial Fisheries and Sport Fish as follows: (1) change the Taku River sockeye salmon sustainable escapement goal range of 71,000–80,000 fish (based on a historical dataset) to a biological escapement goal range of 40,000–75,000 fish based on a revised dataset; and (2) change the Situk River coho salmon biological escapement goal range of 3,300–9,800 fish to a sustainable escapement goal range of 3,800–9,600 fish based on percentiles of historical survey counts. Detailed analyses of Chilkoot, Speel, and Redoubt Lakes sockeye salmon escapement goals are also documented here, although the committee did not recommend changes to those goals.