The purpose of this project is to re-establish Alsek River Chinook and sockeye salmon stock assessment projects that were suspended in 2005. Direct measures of inriver abundance are preferred for abundance-based management, however Klukshu River weir counts are currently the only measure of abundance for Alsek River Chinook and sockeye salmon.
The 2019 Pacific Salmon Treaty Bilateral Agreement directs the parties to continue to develop and implement abundance-based management programs for Alsek River Chinook and sockeye salmon. The Parties shall maintain, through the Committee, a Chinook genetic stock identification (GSI) program approved by the Parties to assist the management of Alsek River Chinook salmon.
In the spirit of this direction, the intent of this project is to reestablish Alsek River Chinook and sockeye salmon stock assessment projects and use available data from both countries to provide technical estimates of the annual inriver abundances. The capture sites on the lower Alsek River have not been visited in nearly 15 years. Year one of this study will be a pilot project to facilitate capture methods in the lower river. Mark-recapture studies, GSI run reconstruction, and telemetry project will take place in subsequent years.
