Annual stock-specific run reconstructions (catch plus escapements) are required to accurately estimate relative contribution of each stock caught in Northern Boundary Area fisheries. Estimates of national origin of contributing stocks provides the most reliable information currently available to complete these run reconstructions, and are used to evaluate stock-specific productivity and revise pre-season forecasts. While the catch of Nass and Skeena sockeye salmon is only subject to treaty harvest-sharing annexes in the Alaska District 101 gillnet and Alaska District 104 purse seine fisheries, the harvest of these stocks in all fisheries, and their escapements, needs to be estimated in order to calculate the total run and the percentage caught in the annexed fisheries.
This project will complete genetic stock identification (GSI) analysis on sockeye salmon tissue samples collected from the 2016 commercial purse seine fisheries in Districts 101, 102, and 103 in Southeast Alaska. This project is a complement to the ongoing project at the Auke Bay Laboratory for Northern Boundary Area sockeye salmon GSI in Districts 101 and 104, and continuing work by DFO in Areas 3, 4, and 5; and will allow for complete assessment of the catches of Nass and Skeena sockeye salmon in all major Northern Boundary Area fisheries for run reconstructions. Estimates will be provided for up to 3 time strata in District 101, up to 3 time strata in District 102, and over the entire season in District 103, for a total of 1,500 samples analyzed.