Alaska Peninsula Salmon 1998 PDF Download

The Alaska Peninsula Management Area consists of the South Alaska Peninsula including coastal waters west of Kupreanof Point to Scotch Cap on Unimak Island and the North Alaska Peninsula extending from Cape Menshikof west to Cape Sarichef. About 247 salmon streams are located throughout the Alaska Peninsula Management Area. The South Peninsula has 185 salmon systems and the North Peninsula 62 systems. These systems combined support 5 salmon species: chinook Oncorhynchus tshcawytscha, sockeye O. nerka, coho O. kisutch, pink O. gorbuscha, and chum O. keta salmon. Salmon escapement is enumerated through the use of fish weirs at six locations: Thin Point Cove and Orzinski River on the South Peninsula, and Nelson, Bear, Sandy, and Ilnik Rivers on the North Peninsula. Remaining streams are monitored by aerial and foot surveys. The Alaska Peninsula Management Area is made up of 4 fishing districts in the South Peninsula, and 2 in the North Peninsula. Five salmon species are commercially harvested on the Alaska Peninsula of both local and non-local origin. Annually, salmon escapements and catches are sampled for biological characteristics including age (scales), length, and sex. These data continue to expand the Alaska Peninsula salmon baseline database. The current emphasis of escapement sampling is on sockeye salmon, while catch sampling focuses primarily on sockeye and chum salmon. Chinook and coho salmon commercial catches are sampled at a reduced level. Sockeye salmon smolt samples (age, weight, and length) are collected weekly at Bear and Sandy Rivers to be used as indices of smolt condition, and age composition. This report summarizes the results of the 1998 Alaska Peninsula Management Area salmon escapement and catch sampling program. The purpose of this report is to serve as a compilation of data, therefore, interpretation and discussion of these data are limited.