Estimation of subsistence gillnet effort and Chinook salmon harvest in non-salmon spawning tributaries of the lower Kuskokwim River ...

• Main Author: Decossas, Gary
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2019
• Subjects: Kuskokwim
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12751012; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.12751012

ABSTRACT: Since 2010, Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) returns to the Kuskokwim River have been below average, prompting fishing restrictions in the mainstem of the Kuskokwim River and salmon spawning tributaries. Coinciding with these closures, non-salmon spawning tributaries of the Kuskokwim River have remained generally unrestricted to subsistence fishing throughout the drainage. In response to restrictions in the mainstem Kuskokwim River and the absence of restrictions in the non-salmon tributaries, some subsistence users have used gillnets to harvest milling Chinook Salmon in non-salmon spawning tributaries, even though opportunities to fish in non-salmon spawning tributaries are intended for the harvest of fish other than salmon. This has led to concern by some subsistence users, who characterize the harvest as a misuse of non-salmon spawning tributary fishing opportunities to target Chinook Salmon. Given these issues, and the general lack of harvest and effort information in non-salmon ...