Klawock Sockeye Salmon Commercial Harvest

Genetic mixed-stock analysis of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) harvested in the commercial purse seine fisheries was used to estimate the harvest of Klawock Lake sockeye salmon in southern Southeast Alaska over a four-year period (2018–2021; 2018 samples were collected with other funding, but included in the analysis conducted through this project). The commercial fisheries in management Districts 103 and 104 were targeted because they are terminal to Klawock Lake and most of the commercial harvest of Klawock Lake sockeye salmon likely occurs in those districts. We further split District 103 into two spatial strata: Northern District 103 (subdistricts 50-90) and Southern District 103 (subdistricts 11-40). The commercial harvest of Klawock Lake sockeye salmon was highest in Northern District 103 in three of four years (2018–2020), and highest in District 104 in one year (2021). Klawock Lake sockeye were virtually absent in the commercial harvest in Southern District 103 in all four years (2018-2021).

Information provided by this project will improve understanding of all the possible factors responsible for the recent decline in the Klawock Lake sockeye salmon run, one of the most important and heavily used subsistence salmon resources in Southeast Alaska. Estimates of the commercial harvest of Klawock Lake sockeye salmon and timing and location of the harvest in the commercial fisheries may provide for more effective fishery management, which will directly benefit the sustainability of the run and the subsistence fishery it supports.