U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Winter 2009/2010 Eddies Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Departments Headwaters 3 American Fishes 10 Watermarks 4 Meanders 30 Eddies Pioneers 8 Vol. 2, No. 4 Publisher Features Bryan Arroyo, Assistant Director Alaska Fisheries on Radio Telemetry Tells U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fisheries and Habitat Conservation the Frontline of Climate a Moving Story–24 Change–12 Doug Palmer Executive Editor Ray Hander Stuart Leon, Ph.D.

Deputy Editor Urban Sprawl in Marathon Swimmers Richard Christian Alaska–14 Rich in Omega-3’s–26 Corrine Smith Russ Holder Editor Craig Springer

Associate Editor Master of Fin Art: The Rest of the Story: Rod Simmons Ray Troll–16 Non-Salmon Fish Contributing writers Ben Ikenson Research in Alaska–28 Lee Allen Thomas McCoy Polly Wheeler, Ph.D. Joshua Conklin, SSGT Doug Palmer Ken Gates Mary Price Lisa Heki Corrine Smith Conservation in Ray Hander Emily Smith the Last Frontier Or Russ Holder Randi Sue Smith the Last Frontier of Ben Ikenson John Wenburg, Ph.D. Ed Jones Polly Wheeler, Ph.D. Conservation–22 Doug McBride David Wigglesworth John Wenburg, Ph.D.

Editorial Advisors Mark Brouder, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ryck Lydecker, Boat Owners Association of the United States Mark Maskill, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Hal Schramm, Ph.D., U.S. Geological Survey Michael Smith, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (retired) Denise Wagner, Wonders of Wildlife Museum

Assistant Regional Directors – Fisheries Dan Diggs, Pacific Region John Engbring, Pacific Southwest Region Jaime Geiger, Ph.D., Northeast Region Linda Kelsey, Southeast Region Mike Oetker, Southwest Region LaVerne Smith, Alaska Region Mike Stempel, Mountain–Prairie Region Mike Weimer, Midwest Region

Contact For subscriptions, visit www.fws.gov/eddies, email [email protected] call 505 248-6867, or write to: Featured artist Ray Troll, page 16 Craig Springer USFWS Fisheries RM 9100D 500 Gold Ave. SW Albuquerque, NM 87103 The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Winter 2009/2010 is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, Design Eddies Blue Heron Reflections on Fisheries Conservation wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit Communications of the American people. On the Cover: Fish Ladder to the Stars CONSER VING by featured artist Ray Troll.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

2 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 Headwaters Alaska: A Place that Humbles “Remote” doesn’t even begin to describe the workplace. If Miller and crew forget a hammer or food or fuel or the Spirit other necessities, it’s no short walk back to the pick-up By Bryan Arroyo truck. Work here demands a certain confidence and self- sufficiency.

Most people have never been to Alaska, and many may never get the chance to visit. But there is a particular satisfaction that you should receive, knowing that Alaska’s fisheries are well managed for the future. From the pages that follow, I want you to come to know more about the successes enjoyed, and the challenges Alaska’s fisheries face.

Corinne Smith with The Nature Conservancy writes in her story, “Balancing the Needs of People and Fish,” about how development in the Anchorage area confronts the well-being of salmon fisheries. She tells how the USFWS Mat-Su Salmon Partnership uses education and on-the- Alaska evokes strong feelings, vivid images, and for ground habitat protection and restoration to keep fish at me—powerful memories. Growing up in the tiny self-sustaining levels. island of Puerto Rico, I only read and dreamt about this place. All my daydreaming never prepared me to In the story, “Alaska Fisheries on the Frontline of absorb its vastness. It’s rugged and wild. Its landscapes Conservation,” biologist Ray Hander writes about the and magnificent wildlife all combine to make every many questions that science needs to answer to manage excursion a great adventure. fisheries in the face of climate change.

The fisherman in me is jubilant that Alaska still boasts Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Ed Jones immense self-sustaining fish populations, like no other tells us a whole lot about how Arctic grayling make a in the Lower 48. Fish abound in habitats that remain living in his American Fishes installment. Did you know largely unfettered by people. The conservationist the fish’s scientific name comes from what they smell like? in me warns that we must be vigilant so that these Read the piece, and you’ll learn more. populations remain self-sustaining for future daydreamers. We’re pleased to present our annual featured artist in this issue, the work of Alaskan Ray Troll. Troll’s work is The future, in part, is in the hands of folks like U.S. on the cover and inside the magazine, along with a great Fish and Wildlife Service fishery biologist Steven biographical sketch by Ben Ikenson. Miller. I say “in part” because true conservation can only be achieved through meaningful partnerships. Our scientific capabilities shine in stories by John Miller, a former U.S. Marine with Viet Nam experience, Wenburg, Ph.D., and Doug Palmer. Wenburg works for the Kenai Fish and Wildlife Field Office, communicates how leading-edge technology is applied in but keeps office at the Yukon Delta National Wildlife a practical and meaningful manner. Palmer tells a “moving Refuge headquarters in tiny Bethel, a place that you story” about how radio telemetry reveals the habitats can only get to by air or boat. In season, Miller is on the used by two fish species. wild waters of the Refuge, and the work he oversees— counting salmon, marking fish movements, collecting The work of folks like Steven Miller is really important. data to set harvest regulations—speaks to the essence Fish in Alaska are more than objects of affection for the of what are Alaska’s fisheries. naturalist and angler. Fish feed people. They fuel an economy, and make possible the lifeways that Alaskans One fish-counting weir that Miller supervises is a enjoy. Alaska’s fisheries are yet to succumb to habitat loss 50-mile boat ride from Bethel, up the twisting Kwethluk and over-exploitation—the things that have hampered River that meanders so tight at its lowest reaches that fisheries most everywhere else—and largely remain it’s about to curl in on itself at every turn. The river sustainable. I find that fulfilling, and humbling. courses through the tundra that from a distance looks Bryan Arroyo is the Assistant Director for Fisheries featureless, like smooth hummocks of green velvet. and Habitat Conservation in Washington, DC.

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation RunningWatermarks Head Text

May I see your library card? If you want to connect a kid with nature and to conservation, put a fishing pole in his hand. The Kenai Fish and Wildlife Field Office in Soldotna, Alaska, helps make that happen, and all a kid needs is a library card.

The Fishing Rod Loaner Program runs in conjunction with the Kenai Community Library, where children with parental consent can check out a fishing rod the same way they would check out a book. But you can’t get away from a library without something to read—and when a kid checks out a rod, they get reading matter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service— information on knot tying and local fishing hot spots, and a copy of the fishing regulations.

According to librarian Julie Niederhauser, over two summers the rods have been checked out 44 times, and she’s delighted. “I think it’s incredible—the excitement is tangible in the kids,” said Niederhauser. “It’s wonderful to get a young

Smith/USFWS person into fishing, and it’s great that the library is part of that.” Soldotna Trustworthy Hardware Emily Store donated the rods. F Emily Smith The Fishing Rod Loaner Program equipped this Kenai youngster with a fishing pole. Necessity spawns video innovation Necessity is the mother of invention, The standard components of an The imagery is of high quality, too. and she’s spawned a very useful underwater video system include a With video, biologists can do more innovation in fisheries conservation: sealed camera box and pond lights, conservation work in less time, and at underwater video. And the Kenai a fish passage chute, and a digital less cost to the taxpayer. Fish and Wildlife Field Office is at video recorder equipped with robust F Ken Gates the fore in its use with fish weirs. motion-detection software to record video images Fish weirs are a common tool used when fish pass the in managing Alaska’s fisheries. camera. The system These weirs are in essence fences is powered by solar that funnel fish through a chute and thermoelectric to be counted. In the past, that’s energy. The data— meant lots of labor, having fisheries video images—are workers on the weirs to literally transmitted via count fish as they swam upstream, microwaves and can but only during daylight hours. be quickly reviewed Now, biologists working throughout miles away, Alaska remotely monitor salmon reducing travel and and steelhead populations, and personnel costs. A invasive northern pike using digital 24-hour video can

video—and the data are gathered be compressed Gates/USFWS

around the clock. and reviewed in Ken mere minutes. A weir on Nikolai Creek funnels steelhead and coho salmon past an underwater video system.

4 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 Running Head Text

Salmon in the city the 60-acre estuary diverse intertidal and migratory bird at the mouth of the habitat. creek. In 2009, biologists with the Alterations to the Anchorage Fish and Wildlife Field estuary began in Office, and many partners, completed the 1930s with a major restoration of this area. The construction concrete weir and pipes are gone, of a railroad and the creek now flows down several embankment and hundred feet of constructed pools and trestle bridge riffles, through a box culvert under across the estuary the railroad—restoring the creek’s mouth. Years later, direct connection to Cook Inlet. That

Wigglesworth/USFWS Chester Creek connection now passes migrating was dammed, wild salmon upstream. It has David routed through a restored tidal flooding to five acres A train passes over Chester Creek, where salmon pass through habitat restored by the Anchorage Fish and Wildlife Field Office. concrete weir, and of the original estuary, and created piped under the migratory bird habitat. Interpretive Chester Creek flows through the railroad, while the estuary became signs that educate people about the heart of urban Anchorage, Alaska, a permanently flooded freshwater site, coupled with public salmon draining into the coastal waters of lagoon. These things significantly viewing, are a catalyst for future Cook Inlet. Dena’ina (Athabascan) impeded fish passage, and damaged restoration projects along Chester subsistence fish camps once dotted Creek. F David Wigglesworth FEATURED FACILITY Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex

Where: Gardnerville, Nevada When: Established 1956

Then: Lahontan National Fish Hatchery was established to raise sport fish.

Now: USFWS Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex oversees Fishery biologists at Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility take recovery implementation of the threatened Lahontan biological data from a cui-ui to help better manage the fishery. cutthroat trout and the endangered cui-ui, both challenges with innovative, applied research, and reliance economically and culturally valuable fisheries in on collaborative partnerships with academic researchers. Nevada. One such example includes the capability of using what is called “hydroacoustics” technology in reintroduction The Complex includes the Nevada Fishery Resource efforts at Fallen Leaf Lake, an alpine lake that flows into Office, the Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility, and Lake Tahoe. The acoustic profile that the technology helps the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery. Biologists to create is used to locate lake trout spawning sites and, provide technical assistance to state, tribal, and eventually, guide gill net samplings. Further development other federal agencies. Challenges in recovery for of this protocol will allow biologists to map lake trout the Lahontan cutthroat trout include lake trout distributions and focus removal methods for Fallen Leaf predation in Lake Tahoe to the degraded water Lake and Lake Tahoe. F Lisa Heki quality in Walker Lake. But biologists meet these

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Running Head Text

Common sense culverts connect fish habitats network with hundreds of stream culvert crossings. Biologists from the Anchorage Fish and Wildlife Field Office (AFWFO) assessed these culverts and found that more than half impede or block young salmon and other fishes from moving about. Access to many miles of prime stream habitat is thus lost due to culvert barriers. The AFWFO promotes culvert designs that incorporate a constructed streambed similar to the natural stream conditions. This allows fish to pass through the culvert as easily as they navigate the natural stream.

USFWS Habitat restoration staff with the Volunteers restore habitats along a small tributary of the Matanuska River. AFWFO provide design and funding assistance for “stream simulation” The Matanuska and Susitna These finger-length fish swim miles culverts. Together with many rivers north of Anchorage, boast up and down streams through the partners, the AFWFO opened up thousands of salmon streams. Some year seeking the best places to live. entire streams by removing multiple are immense rivers, but most are Unfortunately, these same small barriers. Much work remains to be streams less than 10 feet wide. These streams are particularly vulnerable done, but since 2000, 56 culverts in small waters provide vital habitat to habitat fragmentation from roads the Mat-Su basin have been replaced, for five salmon species and other that come with development. repaired, or removed, benefitting fish aquatic organisms. Many small and people. F Mary Price streams aren’t used for spawning, Current development in the Mat-Su but are essential for rearing salmon. basin includes an expanding road Salmon swim to clear-water side-channels Knowing where fish spawn is a During 2008 and 2009, biologists crucial step toward protecting caught 2,200 salmon by fishwheel. spawning habitat and conserving Six hundred of them were radio- fish populations. Biologists from the tagged. The data collected by Anchorage Fish and Wildlife Field following their signals revealed that Office have learned just that about stable clear-water side-channels the fishes in the Matanuska River, within the mainstem Matanuska near Anchorage. While close to the River were the predominant major population centers in Alaska, spawning habitat for sockeye, chum, little is known about the salmon runs and coho salmon. into this major river. Biologists used a fishwheel to capture returning The data revealed more. Biologists salmon, and outfitted them with radio were able to estimate the spawning Springer/USFWS tags to track them to their spawning distribution over space, and the Craig locations. River current spins the time at which these fishes swam Radio tags placed inside salmon reveal data wheel, and captured fish slide from upstream, and the composition of the about their movement and habitat selection. the basket, down the chute, and into fishes by age, sex, and length. This the live box where waiting biologists project was conducted as part of the the auspices of the National Fish attend to the fish. Mat-Su Salmon Partnership under Habitat Action Plan. F Doug McBride

6 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 Running Head Text

Telemetry reveals sheefish habitat Sheefish, inconnu, or “Tarpon of the them. They conducted five North”—no matter the name, a radio aerial tracking surveys telemetry study of this decidedly in September 2008 to northern fish shows some habitat locate sheefish in their preferences, and that will help fishery spawning area, located biologists manage fish habitat. between Mauneluk

River and Beaver Creek. Game

Alaska Department of Fish and Game They learned so far that and

biologists in conjunction with the U.S. sheefish are meticulous Fish Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sport when it comes to choosing of Fish Restoration Program and the a place to spawn. They Office of Subsistence Management, prefer coldwater between currently follow radioed sheefish to four to eight feet deep, Department learn more about where they spawn over different sizes of and how and when they move around, gravel, and fast-flowing Alaska associated with spawning. They do current. A sheefish gets a radio transmitter. this in Alaska’s Kobuk River. Alaska Department of Fish and biologists calculate sheefish spawning From July to August 2008, Alaska Game biologists will continue to track patterns in the Kobuk River, to Department of Fish and Game radioed sheefish. An additional 150 inform future management decisions biologists captured 150 mature sheefish will get radio tags through of this tarpon look-alike. F Thomas sheefish, and implanted radios in the fall of 2011. This study will help McCoy

FROM THE ATTIC Notes from D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives “Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law.” You see it on couch cushions where it’s more a nuisance rather than a hindrance. We find the phrase in our museum collection at D.C. Booth—on circular disks of brass. They’re survey markers, plain, yet ornate in their simplicity and utility. The dates are revealing. The discs were laboriously installed in permanent locations in federal fisheries facilities to mark property boundaries. The discs were attached to twisted brass rods, and embedded in concrete when placed in the ground. They offered something of a permanent marker and were easier to relocate than something like a tree or large rock, often mentioned in early surveys to define a location.

Markers in the museum were used by the U.S. Bureau Smith/USFWS

of Fisheries (1903-39), and the Bureau of Sport Fish Sue and Wildlife (post-1939). Missing from the collection

are survey markers from the U.S. Fish Commission Randi (1871-1903). Transits, tripods, and hand levels are also This booklet and survey marker are among the many in the collection. F Randi Sue Smith artifacts found in the D.C. Booth Archives.

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Pioneers By Lee Allen Robert G. Piper

Fisheries Biologist. Hatchery of samples from federal, state, and Manager. Educator. Motivator. commercial hatcheries throughout the Author. Consultant. Good Friend. East.

Bob Piper has been all of these things More fish disease diagnostics work and more in his lengthy career in was in order at his next station in La fisheries management—culminating Crosse, Wisconsin, before packing with having a building named after up again and heading to the Fish him in honor of his professional Genetics Laboratory in Beulah, accomplishments. “Having an edifice Wyoming, where he helped set up named after you is, wow, the ultimate facilities for genetic investigation and accolade,” he says. “The best thing spent four years conducting selective is it wasn’t called the R.G. Piper trout breeding studies. During this MEMORIAL Building and I got to be time, Piper pioneered the concept of around to enjoy the honor.” a flow and density index to determine the carrying capacities of hatcheries, Piper “He’s honest and sincere and has a methods that today are widely

Ardis high level of professionalism,” says accepted and used by hatcheries Robert “Bob” G. Piper. Charlie Smith, a friend of 45 years throughout North America. who worked with, and for, Piper (and later replaced him) in their days Piper moved to Bozeman, Montana at the Bozeman Fish Technology as assistant director of the Fish Tech Center (associated with the Bozeman Center, then became director there National Fish Hatchery) in Montana. for 12 years until his retirement. “He was a good boss and I learned a “We did applied research on fish lot from him on how to manage both quality and healthy hatchery programs and people.” operations and were involved in developing greenback cutthroat trout Piper, now 79 and retired from a broodstock,” says Smith. “It was a 29-year U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service great way to make a living and while affiliation, began that journey in Bob had a lot of responsibilities as New York with a BS in biology from director, he was still a hands-on guy Cornell University in the early 1950s. and always got involved in all our “I took a two-credit course on fish projects.” culture that involved a lecture and a lab session where we learned how His reputation lingers in many ways. to mix fish food and handle small Bob Piper’s advice and counsel trout fingerlings at an experimental can be found in the young men and hatchery—and before I knew it, a women who learned from him as career in fish culture was born,” he undergraduates and then moved on, says. out, and up the ladder. His knowledge of fish culture still provides a Upon graduation, Piper headed to teaching tool in the form of the 517- Pennsylvania to manage a commercial page Fish Hatchery Management trout hatchery before joining U.S. book published in 1982 (with five Fish and Wildlife Service employ additional printings via the American in 1956 as a biologist in the Eastern Fishery Society) and still used by fish Fish Disease laboratory in Leetown, culturists throughout the world as West Virginia where he diagnosed well as a text at many universities. infections and parasitic diseases

8 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 Robert G. Piper

As a Certified Fishery Scientist with an enthusiastic, ‘No!’ “I think I’ve the American Fisheries Society, had a fantastic career. Throughout Piper was instrumental in developing the different location and job changes, the Fish Culture Section, serving I made a lot of acquaintances with as its President, and later receiving a lot of fisheries colleagues along their Hall of Fame Award. And as the route and they’ve become my the crowning kudo, there is now a friends. If I had to 16,500-square-foot Robert G. Piper sum everything up, Building at the Fish Technology the broad sweep Center. The laboratory and of the vocational administrative building contains 14 paintbrush painted a offices, 2 conference rooms, and 7 pretty picture for me state-of-the-art labs with a range as these colleagues of applications from organic and became chums.” inorganic chemistry needed in fish nutrition and contaminants studies His ‘best chum,’ to fish physiology and necropsy hunting and fishing necessary for reproduction and fish buddy Smith allows

culture research. that “we’ve had a lot Piper of good times over “This building will prove invaluable the years,” and he’s Ardis Robert Piper at the wheel of a U.S. Fish and to fisheries, both national and local,” looking for more Wildlife Service truck, on assignment at the former said former Fish Tech Center director Piper-Smith days in Manchester National Fish Hatchery, Iowa, in 1959. Bill Krise. “We’d like to see the Piper the field—whether Building and Center grounds evolve saddling up horses into a place for tourists and local or rowing a boat in search of ducks or community groups to learn about deer or just another good day in the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ outdoors. F fisheries program.”

Following his retirement, Piper served as a private consultant in fish hatchery design criteria and for a decade, functioned as Editor of The Progressive Fish-Culturist, a quarterly scientific journal published by the American Fisheries Society. He’s slowed down a bit, but recently functioned as a task force member for a hatchery scientific review group in the state of Washington. Currently he works for the state of Montana as a monitor in an Aquatic Animal Drug Approval Partnership.

“I’m taking more time now to sit back Klinger/USFWS

and smell the roses,” he says. When David asked if he’d have done some things The book, Fish Hatchery Management, was a major text in fisheries differently during his career, the conservation—and a major undertaking. These men were among the several pause is lengthy but the response is that Robert Piper worked with to see the book to print. Pictured here (l-r) are Robert Kendall, Joe McCraren, Robert Piper, and John Leonard.

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation American Fishes Arctic Grayling By Ed Jones

Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) Arctic grayling are members of the Unlike salmon, Arctic grayling do not epitomize the northland. The genus salmon family having iridescent bury their eggs in gravel nests but Thymallus refers to the scent of purplish-gray bodies with varying the females scatter between four and these fish that supposedly resemble numbers of black spots scattered seven thousand eggs over the gravel. that of the herb thyme. These along their sides. Elegant in Eggs hatch about two to three weeks beautiful fish flourish in clear, cold appearance, their flag-like dorsal fin and juveniles tend to rear nearby in freshwater systems that drain into is bluish-gray in color and covered calm waters. After spawning, adults the Hudson Bay and the North Pacific with large spots often edged in spread out into their summer feeding and Arctic Oceans from both North rose. Arctic grayling are relatively areas and then migrate to overwinter America and Asia. In the Lower 48 small. Adults typically range 12 to 15 habitats in late fall. states Arctic grayling were most inches in length. Larger specimens likely deposited in northern Michigan can exceed 20 inches. The world’s Although Arctic grayling prefer to and the upper Missouri River system record Arctic grayling weighed 5 dine on insects, they are opportunistic by Pleistocene glacial meltwater. lb. 15 oz. and was caught in 1967 at when it comes to food, eating other the Katseyedie River, Northwest fish, their eggs, and even small Relict populations still persist in the Territories, Canada. mammals, like mice and voles. Upper Big Hole River in Montana, This aggressive feeding behavior yet the populations of the Great Arctic grayling have diverse is perhaps what makes the Arctic Lakes basin are now extinct. In fact, behaviors adopting a way of living grayling such a well-liked sport the city of Grayling, Michigan is to cope with their often callous and fish. Their willingness to rise to the named after the Arctic grayling that tenuous environments. These fish water’s surface and take a dry fly at one time abounded in the Au Sable can spend their entire lives in a makes them very popular among fly River, a major tributary to Lake small section of water or they may fishermen. Huron. be highly migratory using different streams and lakes as necessary for In general, Arctic grayling On August 22, 1805, Lewis and Clark survival. Arctic grayling can survive populations continue to thrive in were near the present-day site of low levels of dissolved oxygen, an their pristine and often remote Clark Canyon Reservoir, and Lewis adaptation necessary for surviving locations. Throughout most of the noted, “late in the evening I made the long winters in habitats otherwise not northern North American continent, men form a brush drag, and with it in suitable to fish. Arctic grayling are a common fish, about 2 hours they caught 528 very even dominant. However, where good fish, most of them large trout, Each spring when the ice begins to overfishing, degradation of habitat among them I know for the first time melt and the smaller streams and through poor land-use practices, saw ten or a douzen of a white species creeks begin to flow, Arctic grayling and competition with exotic fish of trout…” congregate to spawn. Generally has occurred, these fish have been speaking, males are the first to severely impacted. Then in 1823, the Scottish naval arrive on the spawning grounds, surgeon, naturalist, and arctic and the last to leave. Typically fish The sole remaining population in the explorer Sir John Richardson spawn for the first time when they Lower 48 is making its last stand caught a fish at Winter Lake, near are four years old. The spawning on a small section of Montana’s Fort Enterprise, in the Northwest season lasts around three weeks. Upper Big Hole River, in roughly Territories that he named signifer, During courtship, males occupy four percent of its former habitat. or “standard-bearer,” in reference to small territories in search of females. Communities, ranchers, agencies, and its large, waving flag-like dorsal fin. When females are disinterested or non-governmental organizations have In his Fauna Boreali-Americana, other males interfere, the dorsal fin is united to restore the health of the 1836, there is a beautiful colored plate erected as a show of aggression. Not Upper Big Hole River and hopefully of this specimen under the name erecting the dorsal fin by the female these and future actions will help Thymallus signifier. is a sign that she is ready to spawn. this population gain back some of the gravel lost this past century.

10 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 Raborn Scott Glenda Raborn caught and released this Arctic grayling in the Togiak River basin near Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Without a doubt, the Arctic grayling is one of our most beautiful and Ed Jones is a Salmon Stock Assessment exciting sport fish. Once seen, it is biologist with Alaska Department of never forgotten. Reason perhaps for Fish and Game, Sport Fish Division. why over the past century these fish He lives in Juneau, AK. have been stocked in many Lower 48 states resulting in numerous viable sport fisheries.

The aggressive nature of the Arctic grayling is a major reason why these fish are so fun to catch. They are the epitome of the northland. F

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Ray Hander Alaska Fisheries on the Frontline of Climate Change Alaska’s 55 million acres of inland glacial melt-water? Will rainbow trout may be affected by climate-induced lakes and rivers began forming adapt to higher stream temperatures habitat loss. Scientists project for about 300 million years ago, and a in the Kenai Peninsula? Will Pacific Alaska’s North Slope that an overall variety of fish have evolved to thrive salmon colonize Arctic systems as drying effect will occur with drought among its diverse and ecologically water temperatures go up? conditions present during late unique habitats. These habitats range summer. Combining these projections from the freshwater streams of the Much of Alaska’s fisheries remain to with current hydrological information southwest, the coastal rainforest be studied. Describing the effects of leads researchers to think that streams of southern Alaska, to the climate change requires the combined several areas within the stream will glacial Yukon River of the interior. efforts of many scientists from many likely go dry. We already know that Tundra and foothill streams course disciplines. Under the framework Arctic grayling feed in one area of toward the Arctic. of Strategic Habitat Conservation, the drainage during summer, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s overwinter elsewhere. Late-summer Now, climate change stands to Fisheries Program is building upon drought could strand fish, keeping transform Alaska’s fisheries. traditional partnerships with state them from winter habitat. The model Throughout much of Alaska, and federal agencies to include new to be built from the partnership will permafrost and glaciers are partnerships with universities, non- increase our understanding of what thawing, exerting an influence on the governmental organizations, and Arctic grayling need to persist. hydrological cycle. Its fisheries are communities. These partnerships vulnerable, potentially challenging will help prioritize our work On the Kenai Peninsula’s Anchor the persistence of fish populations. through Landscape Conservation River, the Fisheries Program is Cooperatives, or LCCs. applying a predictive model that Warming at about twice the rate of will allow scientists to estimate the the global average, several regions of Here is one such recent effort. The distribution and quantity of salmon Alaska are already seeing profound Fisheries Program convened the and trout habitats throughout changes to their fisheries. Higher air “Wildlife Response to Environmental the basin. They will also be able temperatures, changing precipitation Arctic Change (WildREACH)” to project the potential effects of patterns, and longer growing seasons workshop. A broad array of habitat changes on Anchor River are causing water temperatures stakeholders participated in a salmon populations—answering those and evaporation to increase. These forum among specialists to establish questions about elevated stream increases affect habitats, and will effective partnerships. Since the temperatures, changes in nutrients, ultimately change fish populations. WildREACH workshop, the Fisheries the altered flows, and the sediments Program has promoted an LCC that flowing into streams. Documenting these changes to the houses the technical expertise from Alaska landscape is the easy part. multiple partners who can collectively The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Predicting their impacts is more better address the science needs of uses a deliberate and focused process difficult. The questions are many. overarching Landscape Conservation to address climate change, and its Which fish populations will adapt as Regions. effects on fish. Sharing information, their habitats change? Will juvenile testing hypotheses, and prioritizing salmon migrate to sea earlier in the In northern Alaska, the Fisheries actions should lessen the effects of spring, and face unfavorable feeding Program is partnering with the habitat loss. The models will add conditions in nearshore marine University of Alaska-Fairbanks, the greatly to the Fisheries Program’s waters? Do increased sediment Marine Biological Laboratory-Woods ability to conserve fish populations, loads from melting permafrost affect Hole, and the Alaska Department of benefiting the fisheries and the array sheefish spawning success on the Fish and Game to combine expertise of people and wildlife that depend on Selawik River? Are Dolly Varden in climatology, hydrology, and biology. fish for their food and livelihood. F in the Hulahula River affected by This partnership will describe how channel alterations from more Arctic grayling in the Kuparuk River

12 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 Alaska Fisheries on the Frontline of Climate Change Osborne/USFWS Mitch Erosion occurs with the decreasing ice pack in the Arctic Ocean on Alaska’s North Slope. University State Crosby/Idaho Ben USFWS Alaska’s vast water ways are habitat for a multitude of The melting permafrost of the Selawik River thaw slump has coldwater fish species. Changes in flow patterns from deposited sediment on sheefish spawning grounds and caused the accelerated ice melt could stress fish populations. river to become turbid for over 100 miles downstream.

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Corinne Smith Balancing the Needs of Fish and People The Mat-Su Salmon Partnership at Work and their vast web of lakes and tributaries. It is an incredibly diverse landscape. Beyond the shopping centers and neighborhoods lie the forests of birch and spruce and expanses of tundra that ultimately rise up to the snowy elevations of Denali, the tallest peak in North America. In the Susitna River drainage, 200,000 Chinook salmon return each year, making it Alaska’s fourth-largest Chinook salmon fishery—among the largest in the world.

It’s difficult to Springer/USFWS imagine life here

Craig without salmon. Chum salmon spawn in a Matanuska River channel downslope from a new home near Anchorage, Nature runs on Alaska. salmon—and the economy does, too. In Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna River wildlife, the free-flowing streams that Subsistence fishing Basin (Mat-Su), the pace of growth make this area feel like an Alaskan is a vital tradition, while commercial is a familiar topic of conversation. A home. That conviction—that people fishing and sportfishing anchor the recent observation by Pauline Hooten and fish and wildlife can not only local economy. is all too typical. “I drove Farm Loop co-exist but thrive in the Mat-Su Road the other day and was surprised Basin—was the impetus for the The Matanuska-Susitna Borough at how many housing developments creation of the Mat-Su Basin Salmon (analogous to a county), whose have sprung up. It used to be all Habitat Partnership. boundaries track the basin, is the farms when I first moved to the fastest growing region in Alaska. Mat-Su in the 1980s.” In the Mat-Su Basin, roughly the Its growth has been spurred by the size of West Virginia, the magnitude need for housing and the desire for Like many people, Hooten of the landscape is matched only larger, more rural lots within driving understands the desire to live by the riches of its salmon streams. distance of Anchorage, where half away from Anchorage, but within Each summer, millions of salmon— the population of Alaska lives. The commuting distance, and, like many, Chinook, coho, sockeye, pink and borough has an average population she doesn’t want that population chum—return to the impressive increase of four percent per year, growth to harm the landscape, the Matanuska and Susitna rivers compared to one percent for the

14 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 state overall. The population of the of development—expansion borough as a whole has more than of impervious surfaces, loss of doubled in the last 20 years and is vegetation around streams and lakes, Cooperative expected to continue to increase filling of wetlands, and blocked fish Conservation Award to a population of 100,000 by 2010. passage on the road network—as the The Alaska Department of Fish The borough’s “core area” between greatest stressors on salmon habitats. and Game, Matanuska-Susitna the cities of Palmer and Wasilla is Borough, National Marine expected to double in population by Partners are taking a proactive Fisheries Service, The Nature 2025. approach to avoid these problems Conservancy, and the U.S. Fish through education on salmon and and Wildlife Service initially History has shown that loss of habitat their use of these habitats, and formed the Mat-Su Basin Salmon is a major contributing factor to loss setting priorities for protection. The Habitat Partnership in 2005. Its of salmon populations in the rest Wasilla Soil and Water Conservation work on behalf of Mat-Su Basin of the world. Alaskans like to think District fosters stewardship in school salmon earned it the Cooperative that they can do things differently. children by taking them out to local Conservation Award from Protecting salmon as a subsistence creeks to learn about stream health U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk and economic resource and as an and the salmon life cycle and to assist Kempthorne in 2008. The award icon of Alaskan life is a priority that with streambank revegetation. The recognized the partnership’s work brings people together. That’s why U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and to champion salmon habitat as the collaborative, locally driven, and Alaska Department of Fish and the effects of development in the non-regulatory approach outlined Game hold workshops for developers, Mat-Su Basin continue to rise. by the National Fish Habitat engineers and permitters on how Action Plan works so well to guide to build roads and culverts that the efforts of the Mat-Su Salmon allow free passage of juvenile and Partnership. Since its formation in adult salmon. The partnership’s restore salmon migration on entire 2005, the partnership has brought Science Working Group, composed streams and to use these sites as together local communities, non- of biologists and hydrologists a way to learn more about salmon profit organizations, state and federal from many organizations, has movements in Mat-Su streams and agencies, and residents to prevent the characterized watersheds by their to promote stewardship among the negative impacts that development biological value to salmon and their community. could have on salmon habitat. vulnerability to human activities. This group guides where habitat The partnership is determined to The Mat-Su Salmon Partnership protection and restoration should help salmon thrive in the Mat-Su developed a strategic action plan to occur. In the fall, the Mat-Su Basin. Salmon haven’t always fared guide its work in the next few years Salmon Science and Conservation well where development pressures and to set goals for protection and Symposium provides a forum to share have increased, and so the Mat-Su restoration of salmon habitat. The information on conservation and Basin faces a sizable challenge. But plan identifies common consequences research related to Mat-Su salmon, it’s not too late for Alaska to learn and to promote an exchange of ideas from past errors elsewhere. on salmon conservation. By committing to thoughtful growth The partnership is also at work on in the Mat-Su Basin, the partnership the ground to restore habitat by helps ensure that salmon have safe rebuilding poorly designed road passage in healthy habitats. In a place crossings and replacing culverts. In where growing communities bump 2005 the Mat-Su Borough received up against Alaska wilderness, a rural a Celebrating Habitat award from lifestyle, and wild salmon, people U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for have a rare opportunity to live with replacing inadequate culverts on salmon. F TNC older borough roads. The borough is The Mat-Su River basin. at the core of a collaborative effort of several partners—U.S. Fish Alaska’s Population in 2007 and Wildlife Service, The Nature Corinne Smith works for The Nature Alaska 677,000 Conservancy as the Matanuska-Susitna Conservancy, Chickaloon Native Basin Project Manager. She lives in Municipality of Anchorage 284,000 Village, Aquatic Restoration and Mat-Su Borough 80,065 Anchorage, Alaska. Projected for 2010 100,000 Research Institute, and Wasilla Soil and Water Conservation District—to

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Ben Ikenson Master of Fin Art: Ray Troll

“Through the miasma of creatures, how did we come to be?” Troll ponders. “Whether it was destiny or pure accident, it was by no means a direct path.”

Game Fish.

16 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 Troll Ray Game Fish.

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Chimaeras, also known as ratfish, who bears a tattoo of a ratfish on his dwell in very deep waters; most arm and for whom a ratfish species— species live hundreds of feet below Hydrolagus trolli—is named. Like the water’s surface. And they’ve the ratfish, Troll’s art goes deep and been doing so for more than 300 attests to prehistoric times. Also million years. like the fish, the art at times links the distant past with an unlikely “It is an underappreciated and contemporary descendant. For the primitive, vertebrate survivor. It’s artist, past is not only prelude, it is a living fossil that pre-dates about an ironic reference point for citing practically every fish in the sea,” Ray pop culture and the American way of Troll muses on his favorite fish. “And, life or presenting original inhabitants the word ‘ratfish’ itself is so close to of a landscape no longer submerged the word ‘raffish,’ which means to beneath Paleozoic waters: extinct fish have fun in a kind of bad way.” swim circles around television sets; ancient marine arthropods cohort The ratfish makes for a fitting with Elvis Presley; plesiosaurs— talisman for the Alaska-based artist, those gargantuan sea reptiles from

18 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 dinosaur times—sail through skies above the wheat-covered fields of Kansas.

“Through the miasma of creatures, how did we come to be?” Troll ponders. “Whether it was destiny or pure accident, it was by no means a direct path.”

The dichotomous nature of Troll’s work exists even when the evident social commentary does not. A comical spirit imbues serious content; accurately rendered organisms inhabit fantastical compositions. This is no doubt why Troll’s art has been described as “scientific surrealism.” While Troll goes to great pains to capture details, the artist does not present the same thing that a purely scientific illustrator would. Frequently in his vision, a profound evolutionary connection links humans to the primordial waters from which we have emerged.

“I take the fish-centric world view,” says Troll. “I’m always saying that we humans are actually modified fish. We’re dry land fish, as we’re all descendant of those fish that left the ocean all those years ago. We are all fish.”

If not for the imaginative evolutionist, Troll’s art certainly features a wealth of fodder for the eager psychoanalyst. Often it’s as if the images have been rendered directly from dreams and the ether of the subconscious. One blurb on the back of a book of Troll’s art puts it best: “Ray is a man who not only is in touch with his unconscious; he has made friends with it and appears to periodically take it out for a burger, chocolate malt and large fries. And his unconscious has a lot to say to all of us.”

Indeed, Troll has been dredging the weird waters of his subconscious for decades. What he’s uncovered has been featured on the Discovery Channel, has graced the walls of

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation he knows he must sometimes rise natural history museums and art to the shallower waters where art galleries, and has adorned the pages and commerce blend. As one of his of numerous books and magazines. influences, Pieter Bruegel the Elder sold woodcuts throughout 16th Still, in order for Troll to keep century Europe to promote his work, channeling his inner artistic ratfish, Troll trades in t-shirts, tote bags and baseball caps. Yes, a realist lurks beneath the surrealist. “You kind of have to have that shameless self- promotion gene,” he says.

Troll’s proven he is in full possession of that gene, offering his iconic fish- focused art on wildly popular t-shirts with slogans like “Bass Ackwards,” “Spawn Till You Die,” and this year’s bestseller “Fish and Chips,” which depicts a gathering of poker-playing fish. Troll takes it all in stride, noting that the merchandising side of his life helps sharpen a strain of humor similar to that of The Far Side creator Gary Larson, who coincidentally attended his alma mater of Washington State University.

As with all artists, Troll’s biography has much to do with the evolution of his work. In the 1970s, after growing up and attending college in landlocked and conservative Kansas, Troll headed for Seattle, absorbing in equal measure the thriving art scene and the awe-inspiring scenery of the Pacific Northwest. Later, after he earned a Master of Fine Arts at Washington State, a summer job led him fatefully to southeastern Alaska and the small town of Ketchikan, the “salmon capital of the world.” Here, he has made a home ever since— and nurtured a body of work that celebrates pretty much all things fish.

“I was a fish-monger with a Master of Fine Arts degree,” he says. “And I started really looking at the fish I was selling, and the next thing they were showing up in the work.”

Throughout his long and storied career, Troll has depicted thousands

20 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 of species, most often fish. And, Mishler with a new book soon to be released

Clark and more projects in planning, it Artist Ray Troll peers out from pickled ratfish in his Alaskan studio. doesn’t appear he’ll be calling it quits anytime soon. In that respect too, the artist bears resemblance to that most formidable of muses, the deep- dwelling and remarkably persistent ratfish. F

Ben Ikenson wrote “Nomenclature” in Eddies, summer 2008. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By John Wenburg, Ph.D. Conservation in the Last Frontier Or the Last Frontier of Conservation USFWS Alaska’s Yukon River drainage covers an immense area, stretching comparably from Colorado to West Virginia. Leading- edge technology allows geneticists to predict where migrating salmon are headed months before they arrive.

The Yukon River is massive. It drains the application of genetics research more than 330,000 square miles and to conservation issues. One prime flows nearly 2,000 miles through example of conservation genetics in Canada and Alaska. Let’s put that action is found at the top of the world into perspective. The drainage is along the Yukon River. nearly the size of the entire state of Texas. Conservation of any species on Chum salmon spawn throughout the this scale is a daunting challenge and Yukon drainage and are extremely chum salmon that swim throughout important for subsistence fisheries in the Yukon are no exception. the U.S. and Canada, accounting for 70 percent of the salmon harvested But conservation genetics gets it in subsistence fisheries. Returns of done. Conservation genetics involves Yukon chum have fluctuated widely in the last decade and low returns have

22 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 resulted in subsistence shortfalls small feat over such a large and quickly assay a number of fin clips because of closures and restrictions. remote area. proportional to sonar passage data. This is especially hard on residents With these data, using the genetic along the Yukon River where the Here’s how it was done. The baseline baseline as a reference, the lab subsistence lifestyle is a cultural and genetic data are derived by clipping provides accurate estimates of the economic necessity. small pieces of fins from fish. It’s proportion of each chum stock in the non-lethal. Geneticists use high- sample within 48 hours. Combining Yukon River chum salmon are tech genetic analysis to assay the this estimate with the sonar managed under Pacific Salmon Treaty fin clips—the same way forensic abundance data allows managers to mandates to conserve and equitably scientists examine human genetic determine the number of fish headed share the fishery between the U.S. material. The assays effectively to each part of this massive drainage and Canada. Of primary management provide a “fingerprint” of each fish. well before they separate into concern to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Then, based on genetic relatedness spawning groups. Service is the distinction between of the individual fingerprints, they harvested chum salmon originating are pooled into groups, creating Every summer since 2004, the in the U.S. and Canada. Knowing fingerprints through the entire Yukon conservation genetics laboratory where harvested chum salmon drainage at the population or stock has estimated the composition of come from is essential for effective level. Yukon River chum salmon from management. This task is extremely the Pilot Station sonar site using difficult because of the large size and The final piece of the puzzle for the our genetic baseline. The estimates remoteness of the drainage and the chum salmon work comes from fin are accurate, and have been highly fact that most of the harvest takes clip samples taken at the Pilot Station correlated with data from other place weeks or months, and hundreds sonar site located low in the river, research projects through the Yukon or thousands of miles before the about 120 miles from the mouth. Gill basin. Conservation genetics data chum salmon separate into distinct nets catch the fish passing by the provide managers the ability to spawning groups throughout the sonar counting facility. This allows more effectively regulate fisheries massive Yukon basin. scientists to estimate the size of the and conserve genetic diversity. migration for each salmon species. It’s essential for sustained salmon Tagging studies had little success However, with sonar data alone, it productivity in this massive and in identifying discrete stocks of is impossible to tell how many of complex river system. F Yukon River chum. That’s where the fish are headed to any specific conservation genetics were applied. area in the river basin—the various The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s stocks appear physically identical. conservation genetics laboratory in At this point, a critical question John Wenburg, Ph.D., is the Director of the Alaska used a mixed-stock analysis remains: which country, region or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Conservation to estimate the numbers of specific even tributary in the remaining 1,880 Genetics Laboratory in Anchorage, Alaska. Yukon River chum salmon stocks in miles of the Yukon River are the fish harvest mixtures. The data greatly migrating to? The fish will not make assisted fisheries managers. it to their spawning grounds for weeks or months, so the answer lies Over the course of many years, in in applying conservation genetics, collaboration with the Department allowing for effective in-season of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and harvest management throughout the the Alaska Department of Fish and chum salmon run. Game, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s conservation genetics When the chum salmon come laboratory developed a baseline of in, fin clips are expedited to the genetic data from over 5,000 fish conservation genetics laboratory in representing 29 distinct chum salmon Anchorage via Yukon Delta National stocks from the Yukon River—no Wildlife Refuge airplanes. Geneticists

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Doug Palmer Radio Telemetry Tells a Moving Story Chasing Rainbows and Dollies on the Kenai River Tobin/USFWS John Biologist Doug Palmer listens for radio signals coming from Dolly Varden and rainbow trout during a late-fall telemetry survey on the Kenai River. Following the radio signals over time revealed much about how and where the fish live. The Kenai River supports one of Game began targeting rainbows and Each radio provided researchers the most popular sport fisheries for Dollies. But instead of using a rod and with up to three years of movement rainbow trout and Dolly Varden in reel, biologists took a couple steps up information from the radio-tagged Alaska. Anglers catch both species the technology ladder throughout the Kenai River, although and tuned into the most are caught near Skilak Lake on movements of fish the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. with radio telemetry. Each year, thousands of anglers Fish implanted with chase rainbows and Dollies with flies transmitters sent and lures resembling either aquatic data to biologists who insects, or the eggs and flesh of were able to track spawning salmon. and describe their movement patterns Despite the enormous popularity over years. of these fisheries, very little was known about the wanderings of the Biologists put radio

two fishes, when biologists from transmitters in about Tobin/USFWS the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 280 rainbow trout Kenai Fish and Wildlife Field Office and 400 Dolly Varden John and Alaska Department of Fish and during their study. With much care, a biologist implants a radio transmitter in this Dolly Varden, to follow it in the wild.

24 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 fish, leading to several interesting migrate to a lake for the winter. This discoveries. migration was typically less than 15 miles for most Kenai River Dollies. Movement patterns of rainbow trout But one radio-tagged Dolly migrated were more predictable than those nearly 120 miles to spend the winter of Dollies. The rainbows displayed a in a neighboring watershed—only high fidelity to spawning sites, and to return to the Kenai River the feeding and overwintering areas. following summer. Dolly Varden also displayed a high fidelity to spawning areas, but tended Technology illuminated much about to be more nomadic and to travel the habits of two important sport longer distances to find feeding and fishes. These findings from this overwintering sites. Skilak and Kenai lakes, two of the largest glacial lakes within the watershed, proved to be key overwintering areas used by both fishes. The Kenai River Come late April, rainbows began moving supports one of from their winter hideouts to spawning the most popular areas in mainstem Kenai River and sport fisheries for tributaries, such as the Tobin/USFWS

Russian River. After John rainbow trout and spawning, rainbows An angler holds a trophy rainbow trout from Alaska’s traveled to feeding Kenai River. Dolly Varden in areas in the mainstem Kenai River. Some rainbows used the telemetry study were instrumental Alaska. same feeding area all summer, while in creating more meaningful fishing others selected two or more areas. regulations to protect fish during Over years, some individual rainbow their spawning periods, yet still trout were found in the same places. provide ample opportunity for Both rainbow trout and Dolly Varden anglers. Radio-tagged rainbows and rely heavily on spawning salmon for Dollies were unwittingly helping food, either their eggs or their flesh, biologists develop management and their movement patterns during strategies to support one of the most summer are highly correlated with popular sport fisheries in Alaska. F the timing and location of salmon runs.

Dolly Varden moved out of their Doug Palmer is the supervisor of the Kenai overwintering lakes in the spring, Fish and Wildlife Field Office. He lives in and dispersed to feeding areas in all Soldotna, Alaska. reaches of the Kenai River, and some tributary streams. Some Dollies routinely followed spawning Chinook salmon up tributaries for food, while others stayed in the main river and fed behind spawning sockeye salmon. Dollies typically spawn during September and October in flowing water, and then immediately

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Russ Holder Marathon Swimmers Rich in Omega-3 Oil When I first began working on the Times have changed. In the late Yukon River in 1989, processors 1990s, the number of Yukon River were paying nearly $5.00 per pound Chinook salmon that arrived at the to commercial fishermen for Yukon mouth of the river began to decrease, River Chinook salmon. Back then, and the commercial harvest followed the Japanese market was insatiable suit. The loss of a consistent supply for these special fish, which have of Yukon Chinook, compounded by between 15 to 20 percent oil content changes in traditional holiday gift when they arrive at the mouth of the giving, sharply lowered the Japanese river. The marketing slogan which market for these fish. Decreased or the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries lost commercial fishing opportunities Association adopted reflects this fact also impacted other subsistence – “the longer the river, the richer the activities such as berry picking, fish.” I’ve seen commercial baking wood gathering, and hunting. Cash sheets covered in 1/2” of oil after from commercial fishing, you see, baking a pair of filets in the oven. It has traditionally paid for much of takes lots of stored energy to power a the fuel and other costs involved fish, especially one that stops eating with living a subsistence lifestyle. as soon as it enters fresh water, on a With the salmon population in journey of between 900 to 1,800 miles decline and the commercial fishery to its spawning grounds. In fact, it minimized, managers have struggled takes more than a month for one of to achieve escapement goals, while these big salmon, traveling between continuing to provide subsistence 35 and 40 miles per day, to reach its harvest opportunities for all the spawning grounds after entering the people who live along the river. To river. those individuals, from the Bering Sea to the Canadian headwaters, the Yukon River Chinook salmon is more than a fish, it is a symbol of the bounty of nature and a testimony to the fundamental ability of a species to survive in an unforgiving land.

It has long been recognized that the highest quality fish were those migrating the furthest—which meant those bound for Canada. In general, about 50 percent of the fish harvested by Alaskan fishermen are of Canadian origin. In years past, keeping the Canadian stocks healthy was recognized as important, but it didn’t carry any legal obligation, so the number of fish provided for escapement into Canada was inconsistent. With passage of the USFWS Fort Yukon Fish Wheel from the 2007 Yukon Flats Pacific Salmon Treaty in 1985, Subsistence Boat Survey. negotiations began between the U.S. and Canada regarding the number

26 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 salmon in the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands pollock trawl fishery has become very controversial. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) manages the pollock fishery, largely based on the recommendations provided by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Scale pattern analysis and genetic sampling have both confirmed a high proportion of Chinook salmon, and a lower proportion of chum salmon, caught as bycatch are of Western Alaska origin, and include fish from Yukon River stocks. The combination of low in-river returns since 1998 and high Bering Sea bycatch numbers fueled passionate testimony supporting a low salmon cap in December 2008. The Council’s recommendation to NMFS was not as

USFWS conservative as many had hoped, and likely will not be codified in Federal Gerald Maschmann holding a Yukon River king salmon at the fish processing regulation until 2011. Unfortunately, plant in Emmonak. even though bycatch mortality of fish Canada needed to meet both sonar passage estimates to guide contributes to decreased Yukon River escapement and harvest needs in managers’ decisions. returns, elimination of the pollock the Canadian portion of the Yukon salmon bycatch would not result in River. After 16 years of negotiations, When Alaska became a state in 1959, returns of salmon like those of high the U.S. and Canada signed an management shifted from the federal productivity years. Something else is Agreement in 2002, as an addendum government to the state. Alaska’s causing decreased production—likely to the Pacific Salmon Treaty, which state government and the federal Bering Sea productivity changes has not only provided a framework to government treat the concept of associated with climatic change or address Yukon River Chinook salmon subsistence use differently. The cyclic environmental events. conservation but has also vastly federal government reentered Alaska improved communications between subsistence fisheries management in Yukon River salmon are facing some participants. 1999. It has been a difficult transition tough times with harvest pressure for the agencies involved, and it has in-river and increasing harvest on the Part of the difficulty in providing taken real effort to learn how best high seas. Unfortunately, the Yukon sufficient fish for upriver escapement to work with each other and the River fishery is like most limited and harvest needs is accurately public, and having access to new resources – people will fight very identifying both the timing and perspectives and resources to address hard to protect what they perceive abundance of salmon runs from issues has been valuable. Managers to be their rightful share, and during monitoring projects. These projects from both the Alaska Department times of scarcity emotions run high. often provide a false sense of security, of Fish and Game and U.S. Fish and since they seem to provide abundance Wildlife Service are grateful that I believe the best advice I’ve heard numbers down to “the” fish, when new Genetic Stock Identification came from a wise Yupik elder, who in reality each number has to be techniques have become available said, “Don’t fight over the fish or interpreted in the context of water to assist with Chinook and fall chum they will not return.” This advice level, debris load, turbidity, substrate salmon management decisions. recognizes that survival is only stability, species abundance, fishing possible when people work together effort, weather, and so forth. It is Unfortunately, the management for the common good of the resource. amazing that a fishery that began jurisdictional challenges do not end I hope we all adopt that common in 1903 still depends on test netting, domestically with the two state and sense conservation approach for subsistence harvest information, and federal entities. In recent years the Yukon River salmon and all our other bycatch of Yukon River Chinook shared natural resources. F

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Polly Wheeler, Ph.D. The Rest of the Story: Non-Salmon Fish Research in Alaska The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska has been directed at plays a key role in managing salmon, largely due to their value subsistence harvests of fish and to commercial fisheries, a mainstay wildlife on federal public lands of the Alaskan economy. But non- in Alaska, amounting to about 60 salmon species like whitefish, percent of the state’s total land area. sheefish, northern pike, Arctic An important aspect of managing grayling, longnose sucker, Alaska harvests involves research on the burbot, blackfish and Arctic lamprey various species for which it has are important to local subsistence management authority. In the economies, too. past, most of the fisheries research Magdanz James Whitefish feed rural Alaskans.

28 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 Harvesting natural resources to tap into a rich body of traditional that had not been previously well for subsistence provides a solid ecological knowledge (TEK) that known. These are but a few examples foundation for lifeways in rural has been accumulated through many of the wealth of information gathered Alaska as evidenced by the sheer lifetimes of interaction with the using this research approach—and it volume of fish and wildlife harvested. natural world. These data provide clearly provides key understandings Rural Alaskans harvest land and valuable context for the harvest for biologists and managers alike. marine mammals, migratory and information by supplying additional upland birds, plants, berries, and fish, detail on fishing methods, gear types This research is important because totaling as much as 44 million pounds used, preservation techniques, and it provides a baseline understanding a year, 60 percent of which is fish. how harvests are prepared and used. of species for which basic biological This subsistence harvest makes up This TEK also provides insights for data are extremely limited. These only 2 to 3 percent of the total annual explaining and identifying the causes species are a critical component statewide harvest. Comparatively, of changes in population sizes, short- of subsistence harvests, and are commercial fish harvests account for term and long-term. often harvested in large quantities. about 2 billion pounds—97 percent of Understanding harvest levels is vital the total harvest—with sport hunting Here’s an example. A study of the for managers. These baseline data and fishing harvests comprising the harvest and use and knowledge of can also provide a springboard to remaining 1 to 2 percent. non-salmon species was conducted in subsequent biological work. When the Koyukuk River area of interior so little is known about many of Salmon constitute a significant Alaska in 2002. The study included these species, this body of locally portion of fish harvest, but non- six communities, with a total of 644 held information can be invaluable to salmon species are an oft overlooked people living in 253 households. researchers and managers. Perhaps mainstay of the subsistence economy Researchers found that a wide variety more importantly, this research and diet. Their importance to rural of species were harvested, including, provides fisheries managers with Alaskans is due to their availability. blackfish, burbot, grayling, northern an understanding of the role that While salmon are only available pike, sheefish, sucker, broad and fish and fishing—for both salmon generally summer into fall, non- humpback whitefish. The researchers and non-salmon species—continue salmon species are usually available estimated a one-year harvest of to play in the lives and culture of at every season, and one species can 94,934 pounds of non-salmon fish, those that rely upon the fish for their replace another as needed. far exceeding the harvest of salmon subsistence. F for that year. Whitefish comprised While important for subsistence, 67 percent of this total harvest. in many cases little is known about The remainder was comprised of these species from a scientific least cisco (10 percent), sheefish (19 Polly Wheeler, Ph.D., is the U.S. Fish and perspective. Non-salmon are critical percent), northern pike (9 percent), Wildlife Service’s Deputy Assistant Regional to subsistence users, but their value and burbot, sucker, grayling and lake Director in the Office of Subsistence Management in Anchorage, Alaska. for commercial fisheries is negligible, trout each less than 2 percent. and they have not garnered much in the way of research dollars or In addition to harvest data, attention. The federal government researchers documented a body has worked to change that by of TEK for interior Alaska. The directing a portion of its subsistence researchers built maps from data fisheries management dollars at non- gathered from household surveys salmon fisheries research. that illustrated several key fishing areas with significant seasonal Some of that research is done concentrations of certain fish. through household harvest surveys. Interviews revealed that ingenious The surveys measure the harvest and and sometimes labor-intensive provide an index of the importance harvest methods are still employed of these species. Researchers also that rely on very precise knowledge gather local knowledge of abundance, of fish movements, biology, and distribution, life history, trends, and behavior in order to maximize results. population health of the non-salmon Under-the-ice trapping methods for species. The researchers typically burbot and Alaska blackfish provide seek out elderly people to interview, specific examples of harvest methods

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Meanders By Joshua Conklin, SSGT A Wounded Warrior Joins the Fight for Fish I grew up in rural Missouri, and with a variety of programs to aid one of my hobbies was photography, as a teenager spent every free us with the transition to civilian and he quickly said he had a spot for moment hunting, fishing, or just life. One of these is the Warrior me. Before I knew it, the training had tramping through the woods. Transition Unit (WTU), also known begun, and there was a lot of it: first- I remember scheming ways as the Wounded Warriors. While in aid, CPR, computer security, bear and to get out of doing my chores the WTU we have an abundance of firearms, and electrofishing, to name around our place, just to sneak free time. To fill those hours some a few. Throughout the training, I took out to either a tree stand or one go to school, some find places to photos, and Mitch liked them. My of the small farm ponds. If I work on Ft. Wainwright, the army position developed quickly. Not only wasn’t chasing largemouth bass base in Fairbanks, Alaska, where we was I to assist in an on-the-ground or whitetail deer, I was hoping are currently stationed, and some project, but I was to document it as it that the lawn mower didn’t have volunteer around the community. developed with a photo log. enough gas, so I could be done When I entered the WTU, I initially with chores early. That lucky thought of it as a chance to get fixed Later that spring, as part of an Army break only happened once. After and get back to full duty, but not training exercise, a small group of that dad always made sure there every road you travel in life takes you Wounded Warriors were flown by was an extra five gallons of fuel where you want to go. Army Chinook helicopters from Ft. around. Wainwright over the Arctic Circle I had a difficult time adjusting to to a remote part of Interior Alaska. But like most things in life, and accepting my new physical The objective of the mission was to roaming the woods of my youth limitations, and as a result I gained remove a fish weir on the Black River couldn’t last forever, and when a lot of weight. I thought my that was abandoned in the early I was 17 I enlisted in the Army passion and love for the outdoors 1990s. I remember looking at all the Reserves. The enlistment was were doomed to be resigned to my equipment and thinking, how in the enjoyable, and I performed my memories and would not play a part world are six injured guys going to job, but I wanted to do more. So, in my future. However, in the spring load all this into a helicopter. Well, in late 2002, I signed on for active of 2009 one of my fellow WTUs told I can honestly say we found many duty service in the U.S. Army. me of his volunteer experiences with interesting ways to get that chopper During my enlistment, many the Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field loaded, and we got the job done in a opportunities have come my way. Office. My first thought was that it timely manner. This was the jump- I’ve travelled all over our country, would be great to get outdoors again, start I needed to convince myself and twice to Iraq. but this excitement was dampened by that I could find ways to enjoy the second thought, which was that I was outdoors once again and find my place In early 2009, due to an injury I no longer able to do such things. in this new life. received, I was moved to a unit for soldiers needing prolonged Then I met Mitch Osborne from the The photos I took of the weir removal medical treatment. The focus Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field project were used to show the variety of our mission in this unit is to Office. Mitch, a habitat restoration of projects that the WTU could heal and, it’s hoped, be able to biologist, sought volunteers and after perform. As part of the summer’s rejoin the fight. Unfortunately, his brief presentation of field projects, habitat restoration projects, I this isn’t always possible, and in I approached him and we discussed provided photo-point monitoring, those instances we are provided what I could do. I let him know that which involved going to a restoration

30 Eddies Winter 2009/2010 project and taking a series of photos an adult chum, so I grabbed my honestly scared about spending before restoration activities begins camera, threw on a filter, and started the rest of my life looking out to document the appearance of shooting. I had it in frame and off of a window. I don’t know that habitat that has been degraded. it swam, but I did get the shot. We I can ever fully explain what it From the beginning to the end, I moved down river, and there they has been like for me, because photographed the various stages of were, about seven adult Chinook. there has always been that next restoration actions at the site from As I was taking frame after frame, chance to get better—and I will the same location. Each time I used a female began to clear a spawning be healed. There are still days the same focal point, trajectory, and bed. I captured the entire process when my head hangs, but then I calculations, and the process resulted on film, and I was ecstatic. Since I think of this past summer and I in clear, comprehensive snapshots of was raised in Missouri, I had just realize these experiences will be the transition of the site over time. spotted and photographed the first ones that I will never forget, and Upon completion of the project, I adult Chinook salmon I had ever that the friends I have made will photographed the end result and seen—and I would soon learn that always be there. Getting back created a photo journal to document was a very important photo. The next outdoors again was like getting a all the steps involved. day everyone in the office wanted second chance at being me. Not to see these pictures, and at first too many people get that chance, My photography skills also I thought the curiosity was due to and my family and I will always contributed to documenting presence normal fish biologist interest. Then be grateful to the Fairbanks Fish or absence of fish while I was a the bombshell dropped; I had just and Wildlife Field Office for that member of a field crew on the Chena gotten pictures of fish that had not opportunity. F River, one of the largest producers been documented as spawning in of Chinook salmon in U.S. waters that tributary of the Chena. Along of the Yukon River drainage. Two with related information, my photos teams surveyed sections of the river have been formally submitted to the Staff Sergeant Joshua Conklin writes to document the presence of juvenile Alaska Department of Fish and Game from Fairbanks, Alaska. Chinook at a number of culverts for their use in a fishery management connecting tributaries with the database. mainstem river. Starting from each culvert, one team headed upstream, Thanks to the work I did this summer, and the other downstream. We used I’ve lost 20 pounds and found I can a backpack electrofisher to catch fish indeed still enjoy many outdoor through heavy currents, waist deep in activities, and be very active. My silt. I was outdoors and doing work I overall health has improved, and my enjoyed. life has been affected in a way that is hard to explain. You see, for a man of On another trip to the Chena, I was 30, it was very hard to watch others asked to get proof of the presence of doing the things I love. I had started adult salmon in a few different, small down a road that was causing me drainages that we hadn’t looked at pain every day, but it wasn’t physical before. Upon arriving at the stream, pain, which I could have dealt with. we spotted what appeared to be This was a new challenge, and I was

Vol. 2, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation

STANDARD PRESORT Eddies POSTAGE AND FEES Reflections on Fisheries Conservation PAID U.S. DEPARTMENT U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service– Fisheries OF THE INTERIOR MS ARLSQ 720 PERMIT G-77 4401 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, VA 22203

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service http://www.fws.gov/eddies CONSER VING

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Winter 2009/2010 Evidence of Climate Change In Alaska Increasing air temperatures, changing rain and snow Mean annual surface temperature changes range from 2° to 3°C in patterns, decreasing snow, sea-ice and permafrost cover, and Arctic Alaska. Arctic warming trends are most evident in winter glacial retreat indicate that the climate of Alaska is changing. and spring, and are twice the global average.

Temperatures Water Balance Alaska has experienced the greatest warming of any state in A 30-percent increase in precipitation has accompanied warming the Union. Records from 25 stations across Alaska from 1949 between 1968 and 1990. Total precipitation in the Arctic increased to 1998 documented seasonal mean temperature increases. at about one percent per decade over the past century. On the Increases were highest in winter and spring, lowest in Kenai Peninsula, precipitation records between 1944 and 2002 summer. Much of this warming appears to have occurred indicate a nearly 40 percent decrease in the mean annual water during a sudden Arctic atmospheric and ocean regime shift balance. around 1977. The most pronounced increases from 1949 to 1998 were found in winter in the Interior region. Projected Trends Climate projections suggest warming will continue. Changes are Mean annual temperatures in the different climatic regions expected to be greatest during winter months. Less snow and sea- of Alaska increased by 0.8° to 1.9°C from 1951 to 2001, mostly ice reveals darker surfaces, absorbing more of the sun’s heat and coincident with the 1977 Arctic atmosphere and ocean regime causing more warming. Permafrost thawing may accelerate, with shift. In northern Southeast Alaska, temperatures increased as much as the top 30 feet of discontinuous permafrost thawed in as much as 1.5 to 3° C in the last 60 years, with largest 100 years. The accelerated loss of Alaskan glaciers that began by increases during the winter months. Substantial warming in the end of the 1980s is likely to continue. the Arctic has been documented over the last few decades. To learn more, visit http://alaska.fws.gov/climate