Age composition of subsistence harvests and total return of sockeye salmon from the Kvichak River

This project aged samples of sockeye salmon harvested in the subsistence fishery in the Kvichak River watershed in 2018 and 2019. Age data were vital to previously funded AKSSF Project #44362 (\"Stock Composition of Subsistence Harvests and Total Return of Sockeye Salmon from the Kvichak River\"). It was determined in that project’s first year that scale reabsorption necessitated using otoliths to age samples rather than scales. Ages from otolith reading combined with stock composition estimates from genetic mixed stock analysis were used to evaluate survival and productivity of brood years 2012–2015 at smolt and returning adult life stages. This project only produced the age reads from otoliths.

Knowing the age composition of harvests permits reconstruction of the sockeye salmon return and examination of cohort returns and estimation of marine survival. This project dovetailed with AKSSF Project #44362 (Stock Composition of Subsistence Harvests and Total Return of Sockeye Salmon from ...