Stikine River Chinook Salmon Mark-Recapture Program

The enumeration of Stikine River Chinook salmon is a critical component of abundance based management mandated by the Pacific Salmon Treaty. A key element of the enumeration is ongoing mark-recapture estimation based on application of tags to returning Chinook and the recovery of these tags in in-river fisheries, at enumeration facilities, and on spawning grounds. Event I of the mark recapture is the application of tags through a scientific live capture drift net program near Kakwan Point, Alaska, on the Stikine River operated jointly by Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and the Tahltan First Nation (TFN). This project covers a majority of Chinook salmon migration into the lower Stikine River at Kakwan, and applies spaghetti tags to as many returning fish as possible through two crews drift netting a minimum of 4 wet hours per day each day. This proposal seeks funding to support the DFO/TFN drift crew for the duration of Event I. Tag recoveries from spawning grounds are critical components of the mark-recapture project and this proposal also seeks funding to support a week of post-spawn sample collection and tag recovery field work at the Verrett River, a Stikine River indicator stock.