Sport fishing effort, catch, and harvest and inriver abundance of Chilkat River chinook salmon near Haines, Alaska, in 1996

Description

A mark-recapture experiment was used to estimate spawning abundance of chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha of age 1.3 and older returning to the Chilkat River in 1996. A stratified two-stage direct expansion survey was used to estimate angler effort for and harvest of, wild mature chinook salmon assumed to be bound for the Chilkat River in the Haines marine boat fishery during the spring of 1996. Harvest of large (>28 inches in total length) chinook salmon and chartered angler effort and harvest were also estimated. Two hundred forty-five (245) large (age 1.3 and older) chinook salmon were captured in the lower Chilkat River between June 11 and August 10, 1996 in drift gillnets and two fish wheels; 233 of these fish were tagged with solid-core spaghetti tags (188 in drift gillnets and 45 in the fish wheels). We examined a total of 714 large chinook salmon on spawning tributaries to the Chilkat River, and 33 of these were marked. On the basis of these data, we estimated that 4,920 (SE = 751) large chinook salmon ( n1 = 233, n2 = 714, m2 = 33) immigrated into the Chilkat River during 1996. An estimated 10,082 angler-hours (SE = 880) of effort (9,596 targeted salmon hours, SE = 866) were expended for a harvest of 354 (SE = 41) large chinook salmon, of which 257 (SE = 29) were wild mature fish. Chartered anglers accounted for 16% and 18% of the estimated targeted salmon effort and harvest of large chinook salmon, respectively.

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