DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bg79cnp8m
title: Naknek River subsistence salmon harvest assessment

description: This project provides updated information about the harvests of salmon by
 the communities of King Salmon, Naknek, and South Naknek, Alaska. This
 project details the results of a household survey administered for the
 study years of 2017 and 2018 for harvests and uses of wild salmon by
 households in these Bristol Bay Borough communities. In addition to the
 results from the household survey data set,
 the resulting report includes information from in-depth
 interviews conducted with key respondents and during participant
 observation fishing trips. The three study communities are located along
 the Naknek River in Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska. As in the past,
 during the 2017 and 2018 study years, many residents of these study
 communities relied on fishing for nutrition and to support their way of
 life. The household surveys found that, in both study years, subsistence
 harvests of salmon were important in the communities: more than 70% of the
 number of salmon harvested for King Salmon, and more than 80% of the
 salmon harvested for Naknek and South Naknek, were caught by subsistence
 net. Overall, the per capita harvests in 2017 were: 79 lb per
 capita in King Salmon, 138 lb per capita in Naknek, and 194 lb per capita
 in South Naknek. Sockeye salmon, followed by either Chinook salmon or coho
 salmon, composed the largest portions of salmon harvests (in pounds usable
 weight) for the three communities in 2017. In 2018, the harvests of salmon
 increased to 116 lb per capita for King Salmon, but decreased to 108 lb
 per capita for Naknek, and for South Naknek the per capita harvest
 decreased to 116 lb. Mirroring 2017, for study year 2018 sockeye salmon,
 followed by either Chinook salmon or coho salmon, composed the largest
 portions of salmon harvests for the three study communities. This study is
 part of the effort to collect data about the full range of wild salmon
 harvests and uses, and areas of harvest, to understand in all its
 complexity the importance of salmon as a subsistence resource. The project
 was funded by the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund (AKSSF). This information
 was collaboratively collected by research staff of the Alaska Department
 of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Division of Subsistence, and research
 staff from the Natural Resources Department of Bristol Bay Native
 Association.
description: The project was guided by
 the research principles outlined in the <i>Alaska Federation of
 Natives Guidelines for Research</i> and by the National Science
 Foundation, Office of Polar Programs in its <i>Principles for the
 Conduct of Research in the Arctic</i>, the <i>Ethical
 Principles for the Conduct of Research in the North</i> (Association
 of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies 2003), as well as the Alaska
 confidentiality statute (AS 16.05.815). These principles stress community
 approval of research designs, informed consent, anonymity or
 confidentiality of study participants, community review of draft study
 findings, and the provision of study findings to each study community upon
 completion of the research. <b>Systematic Household
 Surveys Data Collection </b> The primary method for collecting
 subsistence harvest and use information in this project was a systematic
 household survey. ADF&G finalized the survey instrument in
 December 2017. A key goal was to structure the survey instrument to
 collect demographic and salmon harvest and use data that are comparable
 with information collected in other household surveys in the study
 communities and with data in the Community Subsistence Information System
 (CSIS). Estimated salmon harvests by study community households are
 reported in numbers of fish and in pounds usable weight; the estimates
 include resources harvested by any member of the surveyed households
 during the study years. “Use” of salmon means any fish harvested, given
 away, or used by a household, and salmon acquired from other harvesters,
 either as gifts, by barter or trade, through fishing partnerships, or as
 meat given by fishing guides and non-local fishers. Additionally, the
 household survey included questions about gear types used to harvest
 salmon, harvest effort, and resource use assessment questions. The survey
 instrument also included a series of questions to gather observations
 about Naknek River salmon stocks and the household survey also included a
 series of questions about subsistence salmon permits for the Naknek River
 to address the study objective to evaluate the current harvest reporting
 and monitoring system that is based on subsistence permit
 returns. <b>Systematic Household
 Surveys Data Analysis </b> Surveys were coded for data entry
 following standardized conventions used by the Division of Subsistence to
 facilitate data entry. Information Management staff within the Division of
 Subsistence set up database structures within Microsoft SQL Server at
 ADF&G in Anchorage to hold the survey data. The database
 structures included rules, constraints, and referential integrity to
 ensure that data were entered completely and accurately. Once data were entered and
 confirmed, information was processed with the use of Statistical Package
 for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 21. Initial processing
 included the performance of standardized logic checks of the data. Logic
 checks are often needed in complex data sets where rules, constraints, and
 referential integrity do not capture all of the possible inconsistencies
 that may appear. Harvest data collected as numbers of fish were converted
 to pounds usable weight using standard factors. ADF&G staff also used
 SPSS for analyzing the survey information. Analyses included review of raw
 data frequencies, cross tabulations, table generation, estimation of
 population parameters, and calculation of confidence intervals for the
 estimates. Missing information was dealt with on a case-by-case basis
 according to standardized practices, such as minimal value substitution or
 using an averaged response for similarly characterized households.
 Typically, missing data are an uncommon, randomly occurring phenomenon in
 household surveys conducted by the division. In unusual cases where a
 substantial amount of survey information was missing, the household survey
 was treated as a “non-response” and not included in community estimates.
 ADF&G researchers documented all adjustments. Harvest estimates
 and responses to all questions were calculated based upon the application
 of weighted means (Cochran 1977). These calculations are standard methods
 for extrapolating sampled data. <strong>Mapping Locations of
 Subsistence Fishing</strong> During
 household surveys, the researchers asked respondents to indicate the
 locations of their fishing activities during the study year. Project
 research staff established a standard mapping method. Points, lines, and
 polygons were used to mark fishing and harvest locations. Generally,
 points were used to mark harvest locations such as subsistence set gillnet
 sites. However, sometimes points were also used to designate a harvest
 effort location, especially if fishing from a riverbank. Some lines were
 also drawn in order to depict when the harvesting activity did not occur
 at a specific point; for example, lines were used to depict courses taken
 while trolling for fish. Polygons were used to designate areas where fish
 were harvested in a large area, such as while seining for spawned-out
 sockeye salmon in Naknek Lake. Harvest locations and fishing areas were
 documented on iPads using the Collector application (ESRI, or
 Environmental Systems Research Institute) customized for Division of
 Subsistence data collection needs. Once a survey was complete researchers
 conducted a quality control exercise by matching the map data to the
 survey form to ensure all map data had been documented. This was completed
 in the field before the surveys were submitted to the lead researcher.
 Once the data had been uploaded, researchers also verified that the
 household data were logged into the server. The data were first sorted by
 community, and then resource. Maps were then produced in ArcGIS 10.6.1 at
 the species-specific level for each study year separately.