Afognak Lake Sockeye Salmon Monitoring Project (2020–2022)

The Afognak River (Litnik) has historically supported one of the largest sockeye salmon subsistence fisheries for Kodiak Archipelago residents. In the 2000s, the number of sockeye salmon returning to Afognak River had diminished substantially resulting in closures to commercial, sport, and subsistence fishing in Afognak Bay. Local subsistence users, represented by the Kodiak-Aleutians Regional Advisory Council, Kodiak Fish and Game Advisory Committee, and Kodiak Tribal Council, stressed the importance of the Afognak River system to local subsistence users and contended that continued closures would make it more difficult for local residents to meet their sockeye salmon needs and shift fishing efforts to small nearby sockeye salmon runs. The Afognak Lake Sockeye Salmon Stock Monitoring Project enumerates adult sockeye salmon into Afognak Lake through a weir located on the Afognak River, describes run-timing, or proportional daily passage, of sockeye salmon through the weir, estimates the...,
Weir Installation and Adult Salmon Enumeration
A 27 m long weir was installed perpendicular to the stream flow and consisted of 10 wooden tripods (each tripod consisting of three 4″ x 4″ x 8′ spruce timbers and 2″ x 6″ x 6′ horizontal cat-walk supports), 33 aluminum pipes (2″ x 10′), 44 picketed aluminum panels (1″ aluminum pipe with 1″ spacing totaling 30″ x 6′), and 2 framed panel gates. All materials were secured with sandbags and lashed together to create a fish-tight structure that conformed to the contour of the stream channel.
Two counting gates were placed between panels in the two deepest channels of the river enabling fish to be counted as they pass through the weir. A white flash panel was placed on the substrate beneath each gate to enhance visibility and species identification. Fish were counted by field technicians using hand tally denominators as fish migrated upstream through the gates. The counting gates remained closed until staff were present to count fish through th...,