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Kuskokwim Area Interagency Fisheries Meeting, March 09

Background:

Each year the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Commercial Fisheries Division hosts a “inter agency meeting” in which all aspects of Kuskokwim fisheries issues are discussed. The meetings are regularly attended by ADF&G (Commercial Fisheries, Sport Fisheries and Subsistence Fisheries divisions), US Fish and Wildlife Service (representatives from research, management and funding areas, including the Office of Substance Management), KNA, ONC, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association (BSFA), Alaska Yukon Kuskokwim Sustainable Salmon Initiative (AYK SSI), a number of academic researchers, and other invited guests (such as permitting agencies/development organizations, and local resource users). In short, these meetings are well attended by 50 - 70 people who all have direct interest in Kuskokwim River fisheries. The Kuskokwim Area Fisheries Meeting was developed and is run by Doug Molyneaux, and is unique to the Kuskokwim River.

Issues:

It is impossible to touch on all of the relevant presentations, but a few deserve mention. Research in Whitefish Lake shows that numerous tens of thousands of fish (mostly humpbacks) summer in the lake and travel throughout the drainage for spawning in the fall. Broad Whitefish numbers are low but steady (measured in the hundreds).

Genetics work in Coho, Chinook and Sockeye continues. Data that Napaimute has collected has been incorporated into existing databases. Farther collections of genetic samples of these three species will continue to be helpful.

Coho Tagging will continue this year at Kalskag. Work will start in early to mid July and continue into early September. The goals of project include run timing, distribution and abundance. Both “string tags” and radio tags will be used again this year. Radio tags which are collected should be returned to ADF&G/KNA ASAP, as they can be reused and cost around $200 ea.

Work on the Anadrmous Stream Catalog will be conducted around Napaimute in early to mid August. This will be an effort to find the extent to which salmon are present in all parts of the river system, from the main river to the very headwaters. The study area is generally between the Holitna and Aniak rivers. Napaimute may be able to assist in this project.

KNA continues their fisheries work with interesting activities and opportunities. A greater emphasis is going to be spent on education (in the schools). ONC is expanding their fisheries activities, based on the model that KNA has used. These activities are generally funded by the Federal Government (USF&W/OSM).

Issues of net mesh size continue to get attention. Much work is being done to determine if fish size is being affected by large mesh (8” or more) nets. Research to better understanding the relationship between simultaneous large mesh subsistence fisheries and small mesh (generally 6”) commercial fisheries is also being conducted. It is likely that the Kuskokwim will continue see the use of small mesh commercial fisheries, which tend to catch small male Chinook salmon.

Overviews of run reconstructions for 2008 generally show solid run strength for most streams. Chinook escapements have been trending lower for the past few years, and this trend continued for 2008. Based largely on this trend, it is expected that run strength will be on par or lower in 2009 than in the past few years. Even with lower run strength, escapements in 2008 were generally acceptable (within escapement goals or objectives). Interesting research is showing that to obtain Maximum Sustained Yield (MSY), a system wide escapement of about 125 thousand Chinook is needed. Escapement has generally been in the range of 250 – 500 thousand in the historic past. The problem with lower escapements (in the 125 – 150 thousand range) is the increased fishing effort that would be required by upriver substance fisheries. Also, errors in modeling and irregularities in run distribution also show a need for greater escapements then 125 thousand.