Escapement and ASL data of salmon in the Chena River, Alaska

This data was collected as part of the AKSSF funding #52011 awarded to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Sportfish division in Region III. Chinook salmon are an important subsistence resource throughout the Yukon River drainage and the Chena River supports one of the largest spawning populations in the Alaska portion. This project will estimate Chinook and chum salmon by visually counting fish as they pass over a continuous band of white fabric panels strung across the river bottom on the upstream side of the Moose Creek Dam. A DIDSON sonar unit and an ARIS sonar unit will be deployed upstream of the tower site on both sides of the river to ensonify the river at all times and record the number of migrating salmon throughout the run. A mixture model will be used to estimate Chinook and chum salmon during extended periods of high water when tower counts cannot be completed. In addition to enumeration, carcasses of spawned-out Chinook and chum salmon will be collected during the last week of July through the first two weeks of August to estimate the ASL composition of the escapement. The citation for the operational plan for this project is below: 

Matter, A. N., and M. Tyers. 2019. Chinook salmon escapement in the Chena and Salcha Rivers and Coho salmon escapement in the Delta Clearwater River, 2019-2023. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Regional Operational Plan ROP.SF.3F.2019.03, Anchorage.