Escapement of chinook salmon in the Unalakleet River in 1998
By: by Klaus G. Wuttig.
Contributors: Alaska. Division of Sport Fish.
Series: Fishery data series -- no. 99-10.
Publisher: Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish, Research and Technical Services
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Anchorage
Language: eng
Number of pages: 44
Subjects: Chinook salmon -- Alaska -- Unalakleet River -- Statistics.; Salmon fisheries -- Alaska -- Unalakleet River -- Statistics.; Fishing -- Alaska -- Unalakleet River -- Statistics.
Description: During 1998, radio telemetry in conjunction with a counting tower was used to estimate escapement of adult chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Unalakleet River drainage, Alaska. Moreover, radio telemetry was used to investigate the interannual (1997-1998) variation found in the proportion of the escapement which migrated up the North River, a tributary of the Unalakleet River. Escapement estimates were obtained by expanding the estimated passage of fish from a counting tower located on the North River by the proportion of chinook salmon that migrated up the river. The proportion of chinook salmon migrating up the North River was determined from the movements of radio-tagged chinook salmon recorded by a remote tracking station placed at the confluence of the Unalakleet and North rivers and through aerial surveys. A total of 165 chinook salmon were esophageally implanted with pulse-encoded transmitters. Of these fish, 149 migrated upstream and were successfully located, 12 were lost in the commercial and sport fisheries, and four remained unaccounted. The proportion of the chinook salmon escapement migrating up the North River in 1997 and 1998 was 37.2% (SE = 4.0) and 40.1% (SE = 4.0), respectively. Estimated 1997 and 1998 escapements for the entire Unalakleet River drainage were 11,204 (SE = 1,467) and 5,220 (SE = 691) chinook salmon, respectively. Chinook salmon carcasses were collected in the Unalakleet River drainage to estimate age-sex-length compositions. Females comprised 0.50 (SE = 0.04) of the sample. Age class 1.3 composed the largest proportion of the females sampled, while age class 1.3 composed the largest proportion of the males sampled.
Notes: "June 1999."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-34).

Also issued online.