Carol Ann Woody, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Rationale
for This Study
Continued
declines in the number of sockeye salmon returning to spawn in the
Kvichak watershed, which includes Lake Clark National Park, has resulted
in the region being declared an economic disaster area multiple years.
Subsistence, commercial and sport fishers have been negatively impacted.
Ecological repercussions are unknown. Once producing over 50% of the
salmon caught in the multi-million dollar Bristol Bay fishery, Kvichak
salmon are in serious decline.
Concern
for Kvichak originating populations and a lack of basic biological
information led to this research in Lake Clark. We have developed
a cooperative research program focused on learning more about populations
of sockeye salmon that originate in Lake Clark. Our efforts to understand
population trends and structure are geared toward assisting managers
in their efforts to conserve sockeye salmon and increase our knowledge
of the species.
June Tracy
(Nondalton, Alaska) and her subsistence harvest
Cooperators
- National Park Service
- Nondalton Tribal Council
and Villagers
- Newhalen/Iliamna Tribal
Council and Villages
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service - Federal Office of Subsistence Management
- Kijik Corporation
- USGS Cooperative Fish
and Wildlife Research Units at the Universities of Alaska and Montana
- University of Washington
- Bonneville Power Authority
- Alaska Department of
Fish and Game
- University of Idaho,
Moscow
Sockeye
salmon differ from all other salmon species in that they usually spawn
in habitats associated with a lake, within which their young rear
one or more years before heading to oceanic feeding grounds. Bristol
Bay and associated freshwater lakes contain the world’s most productive
sockeye salmon spawning and rearing habitats. Our current research
takes place in and near Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. The
Park was established in 1980 to protect freshwater habitats important
to sustained sockeye salmon production in Bristol Bay.
(continued
to page 2 of the Overview)
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