All posts by Christina

There has been a recent shift from mark-recapture to sonar to estimate Canadian border escapement. Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans biologists found that the Eagle test fishery (gillnet) age composition is significantly different from that estimated from mark-recapture (fish wheel) such that the two data sets are not comparable. This finding highlights the need to 1) develop a Gold Standard for monitoring the age composition of the escapement and 2) to develop a conversion factor such that past and future age data are consistent and comparable through time. These data have implications for the development of brood tables and run size projections.

There are now three years of paired data when both test fishery and fish wheel are operated. The development of a conversion factor and the determination of appropriate sampling methods would be improved with additional years of paired data. This project would allow the comparison of historically operated fish wheel sampling data with sonar test fishing data and other concurrent sampling programs to help determine the relationship between sample composition and run composition. This will also help determine which sampling programs will be most useful in characterizing the ASL and genetic composition of Canadian-origin fish. Due to biases associated with nets, fishwheels, and other sample methods, its desirable to compare test fishery (gillnet) data collected at Eagle with fishwheels, carcass sampling and weir data. It is anticipated that this program will be used to work out potential sources of gear bias as well as assist with the finalization of previous run reconstruction tables which are based on ASL data to make the data set consistent through time. This program will also allow the comparison of ASL composition of past runs to the run composition with the mesh size restrictions.

Attaching signage to significant traffic areas will inform the public of the salmon crisis. The signs will consist of a sandwich board style sign located at Teslin and one mounted sign at Johnson’s Crossing on the Alaska Highway. Both signs will have a color gradient indicating Chinook salmon run numbers. A moveable salmon cut-out on a slider will indicate the Chinook salmon population estimate for the year. The fishing guidelines and any Teslin Tlingit Council (TTC) resolutions pertaining to the salmon will also be posted underneath a Plexiglas covering.

Informing TTC citizens of changes to their regulations based on the current salmon populations allows citizens to take an interest in salmon management. If misinformation about salmon regulations makes its way into the community the public will be informed enough to counter it with the current regulations. They can use the sign to validate their information or they can send the individuals to the Department of Lands and Resources (this will also be highlighted on the sign). TTC citizens would be more likely to fish during the allotted times if properly informed by these signs. In the rare case that an individual chooses not to follow these regulations, those individuals will be known to be working against the TTC resolutions and the educated public will be able to voice their concerns to these people confident in their understanding of the current restrictions.

The Alaska subsistence harvest of Yukon River Chinook salmon averages about 50,000 fish per year, of which about 30% is from Districts 1 and 2. Stock composition of this component of the run is unique compared to other components because of differences in harvest timing, location, and gear, and there is a tendency towards high occurrence of Canadian origin fish. Our goal, in collaboration with Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), is to collect information about the composition of this component of the run to enable estimates of total run composition by stock, stock-specific exploitation, and spawner-recruit analysis, among other uses.

The objective specific to this proposal is to collect representative genetics stock identification (GSI) information, coupled with age, sex, length (ASL) data, from the Chinook salmon subsistence harvest in Districts 1 and 2 in support of estimating the 2013 harvest composition. Deliverables will be raw data and samples provided to ADF&G to enable them, independent of this project, to estimate ASL and stock composition of the subsistence Chinook salmon harvests from District 1 and 2. The relevance of the resulting database is that it contributes to initiatives aimed at reconstructing the ASL and stock composition of the total Yukon River Chinook salmon run, and to understanding the effects of management actions and fishing techniques on harvest composition.

Yukon Fish and Game Association (YF&G) will mark all of the Whitehorse Rapids Fish Hatchery juvenile Chinook to be released in the spring. This tagging project is completed to identify hatchery and wild Chinook salmon in subsequent broodstock collection, escapement composition to the fishway and other annual identification activities including marine and freshwater sampling projects. Fry will be adipose fin clipped and tagged with coded wire tags. The fry will be released into the Upper Yukon River drainage above the Whitehorse Rapids Dam in locations specified in the transplant license approved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The fry releases will involve the helicopter transport of the fry destined for Michie Creek and the M’Clintock River and boat or helicopter transport of fry released in the mainstem Yukon River. YF&G will prepare a report summarizing the project. This will maintain a long standing effort to provide a means to identify hatchery origin Chinook salmon in the Yukon River drainage.

The goal of our program is to build TKC member and staff capacity with regards to salmon related technical work, while implementing/maintaining several TKC salmon initiatives. Our proposal will consist of hiring one Steward (technician) who will conduct a variety of monitoring and assessment activities related to Chinook salmon stocks and habitat in the TKC Traditional Territory along with the Fish and Wildlife Steward.

The restoration of Chinook salmon to Fox Creek, apart from the obvious merits of this project, raises the profile of First Nation and citizen involvement in salmon restoration and management. Coupled with public outreach projects such as the involvement of the Stewards with Summer Culture Camp, and Family Fish Camp (CRE-128-13) will provide opportunity to the proposed activity of collecting ASL data from TKC citizens, this project works to build trust and communication between the TKC government and its citizens, and encourages citizen participation in Chinook salmon management initiatives, including in-season harvest estimates.

The data collected through the TKC Community Stewardship Program is publically accessible and may contribute to future management decisions. Furthermore, as the project develops the type and quality of data collected continues to increase and improve. TKC now owns a significant amount of required sampling equipment and is involved in a number of ecological assessment and monitoring projects throughout the Traditional Territory.

This project will make funds available to classes at Yukon schools involved with the “Stream to Sea” studies to help enable them to participate in field trips. Students will participate in habitat studies at various Yukon creeks, guided by teachers and other facilitators with fisheries experience. Some classes will be given the opportunity to release salmon back to their natal streams in the spring. Some classes will have the opportunity to observe salmon spawning when they collect their own chum eggs for classroom incubation in October. Exposing students to the natural habitat of the salmon they have studied and nurtured, and exposing students to aquatic habitats in general, will help to foster a stewardship ethic. The field trips will also help students to understand the scientific concepts that they have been taught in the classroom.

The goal of this project is to increase the capacity of users and non-users of the salmon resource in communities along the entire Yukon River drainage to maintain and protect salmon stocks and their habitat. This will be achieved through creating, between user and non-user groups, a greater understanding of one another, of key issues, and of salmon management. The objective is to hold an unprecedented meeting of affected Alaskan Tribes and inter-tribal groups, affected Yukon First Nations, stakeholder groups, processors and management agencies from across the drainage, including ADF&G, USFWS, and DFO. While Yukon River Panel meetings have provided opportunities for these groups to meet in the past, these opportunities have only been done on a partial or limited scale. This proposal is distinguished by the fact that the project will involve all available stakeholder groups.

In essence, this project aims to enhance cross-border knowledge and understanding amongst all organizations, communities and management agencies involved in Yukon River fisheries. As such, the agenda is crafted to present management structures, local and regional harvests, key concerns, and current approaches to addressing poor Chinook salmon returns.

Deliverables will include presentations and any plans developed at the meeting. The project will also result in increased understanding, and stronger relationships for future work and cooperation. Further, a professionally developed and designed report will be sent to every invited organization.

Low Yukon River Chinook salmon returns in recent years have resulted in commercial fishery closures and severe restrictions to subsistence fishing in an effort to meet escapement goals. Causes of reduced productivity and poor returns are unknown, and have led to several initiatives to improve assessment and understanding of the mechanisms driving these declines. Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency has led to population-level productivity changes and dramatic declines in salmonid stocks from the Great Lakes and Baltic Sea, and is a possible mechanism influencing productivity of Yukon Chinook salmon. Thiamine deficiency increases early life stage mortality of offspring, lowers adult survival, and reduces vigor and migratory abilities, particularly for stocks with long migration routes like Canadian-origin Chinook salmon. A preliminary analysis completed in 2012 was limited in samples, but indicated potential for thiamine deficiency in Yukon Chinook salmon (only 23% of the females sampled in the Yukon River had eggs with fully replete thiamine levels). The proposed work will increase sample sizes and provide an interannual context for variability in prevalence of thiamine deficiency. Our goal is to assess Chinook salmon egg thiamine levels and to assess the potential for thiamine deficiency to influence Canadian-origin Yukon Chinook salmon productivity. We are requesting funds to analyze Chinook salmon eggs sampled from predominantly mixed Canadian-origin stocks (Rampart Rapids) and from two Canadian spawning locations (Teslin River and Whitehorse Rapids Hatchery). We hypothesize that thiamine levels in Canadian-origin Yukon Chinook Salmon are below thiamine replete levels in some or all areas.  At the end of this project, we will be able to specify to the Yukon River Panel what areas, if any, Canadian-bound Yukon Chinook salmon are thiamine deficient. This research could increase our understanding of Chinook salmon productivity declines in the Yukon River.

This project is designed to test the feasibility of analyzing stock composition of the commercial harvest at the mouth of the Yukon River drainage. Currently genetic sampling at Pilot Station sonar occurs after the District Y-1 fishery, three days into the run. Inseason genetic analyses take an additional three days, which means stock composition estimates are available a minimum of six days after the fish have passed through the sample location. Additionally it is important to determine if the commercial fishery harvests are similar in stock composition as those produced at Pilot Station sonar project. Managers must allow a target number of Canadian-origin chum salmon to pass the international border due to a bilateral international agreement to meet management objectives. Canadian-origin chum salmon contributions range from 2% to 46% throughout the run that consists of four to six pulses annually. Knowing the stock composition in the commercial harvest would result in more informed management decisions concerning Canadian-origin chum salmon. If there is no difference between stock compositions in the lower river fisheries and Pilot Station, then effort could be put into more timely analysis in either sampling location. As the majority of the commercial fishery occurs in the lower commercial districts, collecting and analyzing samples earlier in the run would improve inseason management. This project will analyze fall chum salmon genetic samples from District Y-1 commercial fishing periods during the transition from summer to fall chum salmon in mid-July when a mix of the two are being harvested. In addition, samples will be collected from the largest two pulses in the remainder of the run when the largest commercial harvests may occur. Stock compositions will be estimated using the available chum salmon baseline of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). This is a feasibility study. All samples will be analyzed post-season and the inseason utility of these analyses will be evaluated.

McIntyre Creek is an important Chinook salmon rearing stream within the City of Whitehorse. This creek flows directly into the Yukon River and is culturally important to the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council (TKC); it is part of TKC’s Traditional Territory and an important fish camp was present at the mouth of the creek in the past. It is a documented Chinook salmon rearing channel, and a considerable number of juvenile Chinook have been captured in the lower reaches of this creek below Mountain View Drive, during recent fish sampling works (EDI 2011). In the 1940’s the U.S. Army initiated the construction of a landfill on the escarpment above the lower reaches of McIntyre Creek. This landfill was operated by the army through the 1940’s, and then transferred to the City of Whitehorse and operated as the municipal landfill until it was closed by the Yukon Water Board in 1975. In 1968, a large volume of dump refuse slid down the escarpment and into McIntyre Creek. Subsequently, with the construction of a berm, the affected portion of McIntyre Creek was re-routed to isolate it from its original stream channel which was extensively filled with debris at bottom of the escarpment. With the exception of the berm construction in 1968, large scale clean-up and remediation of the landfill and associated riparian area of McIntyre Creek did not occur until TKC initiated these work in 2004. In 2005, TKC constructed a new earth berm in the riparian area of lower McIntyre Creek. The construction of this berm was funded by the Yukon River Panel R&E fund (CRE-53-06) and was constructed as the first stage of TKC’s clean-up of the former landfill. The purpose of the berm was to prevent the creek from eroding into the area of the former creek channel that was isolated in 1968.
Recent visits to the site have indicated that several areas of McIntyre Creek near the former dumpsite are actively eroding, and may by-pass the berm structure that was installed in 2005. The stream bank in this area is steep and is eroding too quickly to allow for the establishment of riparian vegetation. Although the
majority of the surface waste material was removed during TKC’s clean-up operations, if the creek erodes into the former dumpsite area, remaining waste material could be exposed and transported downstream into the Yukon River. It is felt that this potential issue could be avoided by installing some stream bank stabilization features to deflect flow away from this area. As such, TKC proposes to install small flow deflection structures along the eroding banks of McIntyre Creek, to slow the rate of erosion in the area of concern.