PORTLAND CANAL CHUM SALMON CODED-WIRE-TAGGING PROJECT 1988 – 1995 by Steven C. Heinl Jerrold F. Koerner and D. James Blick Regional Information Report1 No. 1J00-16 Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries P.O. Box 25526 Juneau, Alaska 99802-5526 May 2000 1 The Regional Information Report Series was established in 1987 to provide an information access system for all unpublished divisional reports. These reports frequently serve diverse ad hoc informational purposes or archive basic uninterpreted data. To accommodate timely reporting of recently collected information, reports in this series undergo only limited internal review and may contain preliminary data; this information may be subsequently finalized and published in the formal literature. Consequently, these reports should not be cited without prior approval of the author or the Division of Commercial Fisheries. AUTHORS Steven C. Heinl is a fishery biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Commercial Fisheries Division, 2030 Sea Level Drive, Suite 205, Ketchikan, Alaska 99901. Jerrold F. Koerner was a fishery biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Commercial Fisheries Division, 1976-1996. He is now retired. D. James Blick is a biometrician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Commercial Fisheries Division, P.O. Box 240020, Douglas, Alaska 99824-0020. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would especially like to thank the supervisors of field crews that conducted the fry tagging and adult weir operations at Hyder: Margaret Cartwright, Kent Taylor, Mike Wood, Kathleen Wendt, and David Dryer. We thank Sam Bertoni (ADF&G Coded Wire Tag Lab, retired), and both Doug Herriot and Brenda Adkins (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) for providing coded-wire-tag recovery data; Craig Farrington and Mark Olsen at the ADF&G Salmon Aging Lab for providing age-length data; and John H. Helle (NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory) for sharing Fish Creek escapement data. Tim Zadina and Ben Van Alen provided much comment and insight that greatly improved the quality of this report. We would also like to thank the people of Hyder for their cooperation and support of this project. PROJECT SPONSORSHIP This project was financed with U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty Funds, under Cooperative Agreements NA90AA-H-FM010, NA90AA-H-FM674, NA17FP0250, NA27FP0259, NA57FP425, and NA87FP0356. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page AUTHORS................................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... ii PROJECT SPONSORSHIP ......................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................................iv LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................................v LIST OF APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................vi ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................1 STUDY SITE ................................................................................................................................................2 METHODS....................................................................................................................................................2 Fry Tagging ...............................................................................................................................................2 Commercial Catch Sampling.....................................................................................................................3 Adult Escapement Sampling......................................................................................................................4 Fish Creek Stream-Life..........................................................................................................................5 Marx Creek and Adjacent Salmon River Escapements .........................................................................5 Foot-to-Weir Escapement Estimate .......................................................................................................6 Analysis of Coded-Wire-Tag Data ............................................................................................................6 Spawner-Recruit Analysis .........................................................................................................................7 RESULTS......................................................................................................................................................8 Fry Tagging ...............................................................................................................................................8 Escapement, Harvest Contribution, and Exploitation Rate .......................................................................8 Harvest Distribution...................................................................................................................................8 Run Timing – Commercial Fisheries.........................................................................................................9 Run Timing – Escapement.........................................................................................................................9 Survival Rate ...........................................................................................................................................10 Age and Length Distribution ...................................................................................................................10 Fish Creek Stream Life............................................................................................................................11 Foot-to-Weir Escapement Estimate.........................................................................................................11 Spawner-Recruit ......................................................................................................................................11 DISCUSSION..............................................................................................................................................12 Assessment of Fish Creek Chum Salmon................................................................................................12 Commercial Fisheries ..........................................................................................................................12 Escapement and Total Return ..............................................................................................................13 Assessment of the Coded-Wire-Tagging Study.......................................................................................14 LITERATURE CITED................................................................................................................................17 iii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Area under the curve (AUC) fry population estimate and total number of fry coded- wire-tagged at Fish Creek, 1988-1991........................................................................................20 Table 2. Expanded coded-wire-tag recoveries, estimated commercial harvest, Fish Creek escapement, other escapement (strays to Marx Creek and the Salmon River), and total run of Fish Creek chum salmon, all age classes combined, 1991-1995......................................20 Table 3. Estimated exploitation rate of coded-wire-tagged Fish Creek chum salmon, by age class, and all age classes combined, 1991-1995. ........................................................................21 Table 4. Estimated distribution of the Fish Creek chum salmon catch in the commercial fisheries of Southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia, all age classes combined, 1991- 1995.............................................................................................................................................22 Table 5. Survival and maturation rates of coded-wire-tagged Fish Creek chum salmon. ........................23 Table 6. Age distribution of the Fish Creek chum salmon escapement, weighted by week of escapement, 1991-1995...............................................................................................................23 Table 7. Age distribution of the estimated total run of Fish Creek chum salmon based on coded- wire-tag recoveries, 1991-1995...................................................................................................24 Table 8. Mean mid-eye-to-tail-fork length of Fish Creek chum salmon by sex and age class, weighted by week of escapement, 1991-1995. ...........................................................................25 Table 9. Number of stream-life tags released and recovered, and mean stream life (days) by week, of Fish Creek chum salmon, 1991, 1992, and 1995. ........................................................25 Table 10.