Estimates of commercial harvest and escapement of coho salmon stocked into northern Cook Inlet streams, 1995
By: by Paul A. Cyr, Barry L. Stratton, and James J. Hasbrouck.
Contributors: Hasbrouck, James J.; Stratton, Barry L.; Alaska. Division of Sport Fish.
Series: Fishery data series -- no. 97-3.
Publisher: Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Anchorage
Language: eng
Number of pages: 69
Subjects: Coho salmon -- Alaska -- Cook Inlet -- Statistics.; Salmon fisheries -- Alaska -- Cook Inlet -- Statistics.; Fishery resources -- Alaska -- Cook Inlet -- Statistics.; Fish populations -- Alaska -- Cook Inlet -- Measurement.
Description: Juvenile coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch reared in hatcheries and released into several Northern Cook Inlet freshwater systems in 1992, 1993, and 1994 returned to Upper Cook Inlet in 1995. Some fish in each release group were marked with an adipose finclip and a coded wire tag. Marked coho salmon were recovered in 1995 from selected commercial fisheries and escapements, most of which were from 1994 releases. Fish were sampled from escapements to assess straying and long-term tag retention after release. Recoveries of marked fish from Upper Cook Inlet (UCI) commercial harvests were used to estimate harvest of hatchery-produced coho salmon. In 1995 the UCI mixed-stock commercial fisheries harvested 446,954 coho salmon. The majority of coho salmon were harvested in the Central District drift gillnet fishery (241,473), the Northern District set gillnet fishery (89,300), and the Central District Upper, Lower, Kalgin Island, Kustatan, and Chinitna Bay Subdistricts (westside) set gillnet fishery (71,431). This project concentrated sampling efforts on coho salmon harvested in the Central District drift gillnet fishery, the Northern District set gillnet fishery, and the Central District Upper Subdistrict (eastside) set gillnet fishery. Budgetary and time constraints prevented sampling of all Central District set gillnet fisheries. Other components of this program deal with recovery of marked wild stock coho salmon from the Kenai River. Since coho salmon of Kenai River origin are known to return along the Central District eastside beaches, sampling was conducted on coho salmon harvested in the Central District Upper Subdistrict (eastside) set gillnet fishery. Coho salmon from the hatchery stocking programs contributed an estimated 12,676 (SE = 329) fish to the Central District driftnet fishery, 1,062 (SE = 173) to the Central District eastside setnet fishery, and 5,292 (SE = 201) to the Northern District setnet fishery. An escapement of 858 coho salmon into Ship Creek exceeded the biological escapement goal of 200 coho salmon. Estimates of effort, harvest, and catch from the Statewide Harvest Survey increased in 1995 relative to the prestocking 5-year average at Ship, Campbell, and Bird creeks, likely due to the return of stocked coho salmon. Recovery of 215 coho salmon with decodable tags from escapements to Northern Cook Inlet streams indicated that straying of stocked coho salmon was not significant (P < 0.05) in any of the sampled streams. Only one (0.7%) of 136 tags recovered from the Ship Creek coho salmon escapement was from a fish not stocked into Ship Creek; therefore, straying into Ship Creek was likely < 5%.
Notes: "February 1997"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-38).

Also issued online.