Harvest estimates for selected marine sport fisheries in southeast Alaska during 1994

Description

Creel surveys of the Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg, and Wrangell marine sport fisheries for chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha were conducted during 1994. Estimates from these surveys were necessary to provide data for inseason management of the chinook salmon sport fishery in Southeast Alaska to meet an allocation determined by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. Dockside interviews of boat-parties completing trips were used to estimate angler effort for and total catch and harvest of chinook salmon. Harvest and total catches of other Pacific salmon and trout Oncorhynchus species, Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis, lingcod Ophiodon elongatus, rockfish Sebastes species, and Dolly Varden Salvelinus malma were also estimated. In addition, harvests of crab and shrimp were estimated in Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Wrangell; while harvest of crab was estimated in Juneau. The contributions of hatchery chinook salmon and coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch to these sport fisheries were estimated from coded wire tag recovery information. A coded wire tag sampling program conducted at Craig on Prince of Wales Island also provided hatchery contribution estimates. Scale samples and lengths were taken from chinook salmon for age composition and length-at-age estimates in all fisheries except Sitka. Lengths of Pacific halibut were taken to estimate total round weight of the harvest from existing length-weight relationships. The estimated harvest of chinook salmon was 24,167 (SE = 939), and the estimated catch was 76,897 (SE = 3,981) in the boat sport fisheries monitored. Harvests of chinook salmon were lower than the long-term average in both the Juneau and Ketchikan fisheries. The largest percentage of Alaska hatchery chinook salmon was harvested in Ketchikan, where an estimated 41% of the harvest was of Alaska hatchery origin and 71% was of hatchery origin. Hatcheries produced about 37% of the chinook salmon harvest in Juneau, with Southeast Alaska hatcheries contributing 33% of the total harvest. The estimated Alaska hatchery contribution of chinook salmon was 12% in Sitka, 30% in Petersburg, and 16% in Wrangell. Hatcheries in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon produced about 46% of the monitored chinook salmon harvest and 22% of the total harvest was of Alaska hatchery origin. An estimated 129,994 (SE = 9,379) coho salmon, 44,765 (SE = 4,286) pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, 35,105 (SE = 1,756) Pacific halibut, and 12,105 (SE = 902) rockfish were also harvested in the sampled marine boat fisheries. The total harvest of coho salmon was the highest recorded in both Juneau and Ketchikan. Hatcheries produced 13% and 32% of the coho harvest, respectively. The Pacific halibut harvest of 8,843 (SE = 877) in Juneau was below the long-term average, and the Ketchikan harvest of 10,960 (SE = 982) was above average. The total rockfish harvest of 5,603 (SE = 564) in Ketchikan was less than half of the long term average. Shellfish effort was above average in the Juneau and Ketchikan fisheries, but Dungeness crab harvest was below average in Juneau and above average in Ketchikan.

Subjects

Genres

• Statistics

Series Statement

• Fishery data series -- no. 95-23.

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