Operational Plan Deshka River Salmon Weir 2021 2025 PDF Download

The Deshka River is the largest producer and has the largest sport fishery of Chinook salmon in the North Cook Inlet Management Area. The Deshka River weir has operated seasonally since 1995. A floating, resistance-board-weir is used at river mile (RM) 7 to enumerate Chinook and coho salmon and to collect age, sex, and length data from these species. The Deshka River sustainable escapement goal (SEG) range is currently 9,000–18,000 fish for Chinook salmon and 10,200–24,100 fish for coho salmon. Data collected at this weir are used to manage sport and commercial fisheries inseason and to develop and evaluate escapement goals. This project is also used as a platform to collect harvest data upstream of RM 7, passage data of other fish species, environmental data, and it provides recapture data for the greater Susitna River drainage Chinook salmon mark–recapture project.