Harvest estimates for selected marine sport fisheries in southeast Alaska during 1992

Description

Creel surveys of the Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, and Craig/Klawock marine sport fisheries for chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha were conducted during 1992. Estimates from these surveys were necessary to provide data for inseason management of the chinook salmon sport fishery in Southeast Alaska to meet an allocation determined by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. Dockside interviews of boat-parties or anglers completing trips were used to estimate angler effort for and total catch and harvest of chinook salmon. Harvest and total catches of other Pacific salmon and trout Oncorhynchus species, Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis, rockfish Sebastes species, and Dolly Varden Salvelinus malma were also estimated. In addition, harvests of crab and shrimp were estimated in Ketchikan, Petersburg, Wrangell, and Craig/Klawock; while harvest of crab was estimated in Juneau. The contributions of hatchery chinook salmon and coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch to these sport fisheries were estimated from coded wire tag recovery information. Chinook salmon harvested by selected remote lodges or charter boat operations were also voluntarily sampled for coded wire tags. Scale samples and lengths were taken from chinook salmon for age composition and length at age estimates in all fisheries except Sitka, where only lengths were taken. Lengths of Pacific halibut were taken to estimate total round weight of the harvest from existing length-weight relationships. The estimated harvest of chinook salmon was 27,212 (standard error = 1,043), and the estimated catch was 57,596 (standard error = 1,978) in the boat sport fisheries monitored. Although not reported here, chinook harvests and hatchery contributions were expanded to obtain total harvests of chinook salmon in the Southeast region. An additional 235 chinook salmon were harvested from shore at Picnic Cove near Juneau. Harvests of chinook salmon were similar to the long-term averages in the Juneau and Ketchikan boat fisheries. The largest number of hatchery chinook salmon was harvested in Ketchikan, where an estimated 64 percent of the harvest was of hatchery origin and 46 percent was of Alaska hatchery origin. Hatcheries produced about 42 percent of the chinook salmon harvest in Juneau, with Southeast Alaska hatcheries contributing 25 percent of the total harvest. The estimated Alaska hatchery contribution of chinook salmon was 11 percent in Sitka, 43 percent in Petersburg, 6 percent in Wrangell, and 4 percent in Craig/Klawock. Hatcheries produced about 42 percent of the monitored chinook salmon harvest and 23 percent of the total harvest was of Alaska hatchery origin. An estimated 46,860 (standard error = 3,806) coho salmon, 35,282 (standard error = 5,267) pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, 36,185 (standard error = 1,596) Pacific halibut, and 13,984 (standard error = 971) rockfish were also harvested in the sampled marine boat fisheries. In Ketchikan and Juneau the total harvest of coho salmon was above average, and hatcheries produced 42 percent and 5 percent of the harvest, respectively. The Pacific halibut harvest of 9,265 (standard error = 829) in Juneau was below the long-term average, although the Ketchikan harvest of 10,254 (standard error = 1,039) was above average. The total rockfish harvest of 8,149 (standard error = 871) in Ketchikan was below average. Shellfish effort and Dungeness crab harvests were above average in the Juneau and Ketchikan fisheries.

Subjects

Genres

• Statistics

Series Statement

• Fishery data series -- no. 93-45.

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