Marine Salmon Interactions (MSI): Auke Creek
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Jerry Taylor
Fishery Research Biologist
(907) 789-6040
Jerry.Taylor@noaa.gov
Auke Creek originates as the outflow stream from Auke Lake, and flows
into Auke Bay adjacent to Auke Bay Laboratory. The stream, lake,
and associated drainage supports anadromous runs of pink, chum, sockeye,
and coho salmon, Dolly Varden, and cutthroat and steelhead trout. In addition, residual or resident, non-migratory components of some of
these species also exist in Auke Lake. These fish populations are
a valuable resource providing significant contributions to commercial
and recreational salmonid fisheries in the region. Auke Creek
salmonids also provide important opportunities for conducting basic
research and for the specialized training of fisheries scientists and
technicians. Because these fish occur in the midst of an urban
area, they also provide educational opportunities for general public.
A fish counting weir and experimental hatchery are situated at the mouth
of Auke Creek on property owned by NMFS and the State of Alaska. The
two-way weir allows complete enumeration of all downstream migrant
juvenile salmonids and upstream migrant adults, allowing calculation of
both freshwater and marine survival of anadromous stocks using this
system. Such population dynamics information is not commonly
available around the Pacific Rim.
The Auke Creek weir and experimental hatchery are operated on a
cooperative basis with both the
University of Alaska Fairbanks
(UAF) School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences,
and the
Alaska Department
of Fish and Game (ADF&G).
These agencies along with NMFS provide shared funds to pay for a weir
technician to help manage the weir operations, fish counts, and data
compilations. The NMFS assigns a
full-time senior project leader to coordinate all activities at Auke
Creek weir and hatchery. This project leader also is responsible
for conducting approved NMFS research projects and assisting with approved research projects by other agencies at Auke
Creek. Annually, NMFS conducts an interagency meeting on research
projects and activities at Auke Creek and produces an updated annual
report of historical and current fish counts of juveniles and adult
salmonids migrating out of and into this system. These reports include
information on daily migrations of each species using this system. For more
information, see:
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There may be as many as 10 to 12 individual research projects underway
at Auke Creek at any given time, conducted by UAF graduate students,
faculty, ADF&G scientists, or NMFS scientists.
The basic philosophy underlying research on Auke Creek salmonids is to
use these valuable salmonid resources principally for their special
research potential, educational purposes, and benefit to the general
public. This policy calls for maximizing natural production, and
maintaining instream flows as much as possible to protect salmonid
resources. Operation of the hatchery is only done in an
experimental, research mode with small-scale releases of fish from
carefully planned, executed, and evaluated projects. The weir is operated
to minimize delay, injury, and stress to migrant fishes.
Transplants to or from Auke Creek are generally discouraged, and are
done only under approved, carefully controlled conditions. In general,
hatchery projects are conducted to minimize potential interactions with wild
stocks.
For more information, see
Genetic Structure of Auke Creek Pink Salmon,
or
Auke Creek Weir
on the ADF&G Web site.
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