This is the second summer the genetic mapping is being used to help manage fisheries. When the commercial fleet brings its fish to processors, Fish and Game techs are on hand. They work through the night gathering samples from 10 fish from 40 commercial boats. By 4 a.m., some of their samples are ready for a chartered flight for Anchorage. At the state Fish and Game laboratory on Raspberry Road, lab technicians use a process that produces a hardened gel with a series of dots and dashs resembling the Morse Code.
Geneticists translate that information and plug it into a computer.
At the end of the day, they compare the information to the data base. They check and re-check their work. Cook Inlet commercial fishing periods are generally open for 12 hours on Monday and Friday. Returning salmon tend to linger in Cook Inlet for four to 19 days before heading for their spawning grounds. So samples collected on Monday are processed, translated and back to fisheries managers quick enough for them to restrict Friday's opening, if necessary.