Several years ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to research salmon management techniques used on the Kenai River in Alaska.

Center channel netting of salmon to help enumerate sonar fish counts

While there, I met with Mary King of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Mary was instrumental into giving us a peek into the world of an Alaskan Fisheries Biologist. She took us to various sites and enabled us to view egg stripping, salmon sampling, sonar, and enumerating techniques used to keep the Kenai River Basin in balance with its associated breeding habitat. Mary's extensive background in research made it easy for her to explain the Department's management strategy which evolves around maximum sustained yield.

Mary King explains the virtues of habitat preservation.

In nature, without any human intervention, salmon stocks will rise and fall from season to season. One reason for this is that when too many salmon return to the beds, the beds are over burdened by excess amount of returning salmon. When this happens, future returns to the fishery decline; this is due to the unfavorable conditions which transpire.

Salmon sampling at Crooked Creek

Salmon returns, in an unmanaged fishery, become a bounty and bust scenario. Some years the return of salmon stocks will be very high; in other years the return of salmon stocks will be very low. This bounty and bust scenario is natures way of managing the fishery.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game fish wheel used to enumerate sonar counts.

When the philosophy of maximum sustained yield is applied, fishery stocks are managed for proper escapement. Escapement is a term used to describe the number of salmon that are allowed to escape the harvest and return to the beds to spawn. This management philosophy requires extensive research, planning and counting of returning stocks. And, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game goes to extensive lengths to insure that the escapement levels are appropriate.

Checking for coded wire tags helps track straying of stocked fish.

While in Alaska, Tom Mouzas and I filmed some of the methods used to measure the number of fish escaping the harvest. These techniques include the use of sonar, fishing wheels, nets and weirs. During the coming month, I will post some of our work on YouTube and provide a few links to this very interesting topic.

The taking of salmon eggs to be used at the Elmendorf Hatchery

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