Little Trapper Sockeye and Kowatua-Tatsatua Chinook

Sockeye salmon enumeration via counting fence has been conducted at Little Trapper Lake at the headwater of Kowatua Creek in the Taku River drainage for approximately 30 years. This provides a long term index of sockeye escapement into the Taku River. The Little Trapper stock is the largest lake stock in the drainage and an index for drainage wide abundance all the more important now that genetic stock identification (GSI) capabilities have been developed.
Tag recovery and biological sampling for Chinook salmon on Kowatua and Tatsatua creeks (in the vicinity of L. Trapper Lake) has also occurred for many years. This has involved boat surveys on Kowatua Creek and a carcass fence on Tatsatua Creek. This tag recovery and sampling is an important element of the Event II component of the Taku River Chinook mark-recapture program.