The Karluk River Chinook salmon run, on the southwest corner of Kodiak Island, is coming in at its lowest level ever recorded by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. It’s the latest area in the state seeing declines in Chinook, or king salmon.
By the end of day on July 26, less than 70 king salmon passed through the Karluk River weir. That's roughly 300 less fish than this time last year. But it’s the latest dismal year in the Kodiak Management Area, where Karluk kings haven’t hit their escapement goal for the last two seasons. In 2022 the total was about four-hundred shy of the escapement goal of 3,000 fish. Last year, escapement dropped well below 2,000 fish to 359 for the first time since 2013. And ADF&G's data in the Karluk River goes back to 1993.
“I think it’s pretty unexplainable. Obviously something is happening in the marine environment that is affecting these things," Doug Vincent-Lang, the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, said.
A KMXT interview request with the local Fish & Game office was sent directly to the commissioner due to statewide concerns over Chinook numbers. In an email sent to KMXT from ADF&G staff, the justification was, “because of the Chinook ESA petition that is being evaluated, information requests on Chinook are a bit more sensitive these days. Ergo, the Commissioner would like to take this interview himself."
A major part of the concern is a petition to list certain Gulf of Alaska chinook stocks under Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections, that’s currently being considered by the federal government.
That petition wouldn’t just affect Kodiak. It could also have implications for other areas of the state, too, which are facing declining king salmon numbers and even reductions in size of the fish. That includes heavily fished locations like the Copper and Yukon Rivers.
Vincent-Lang said the department is concerned about the declining Chinook numbers in the Kodiak area, and is doing everything it can to manage the harvest of king salmon. Something else he said that could be done outside of restricting fishing, is to look to local hatcheries for help.
“We actually got some money through Congress to look at how we are going to rehabilitate these stocks. So maybe it’s time to look at rehabilitation of that stock by taking eggs and raising some of the eggs in a hatchery, basically boosting the numbers to make sure we maintain genetic diversity of that stock,” Vincent-Lang stated.
If that does become reality, the commissioner said the initial study for rehabilitation of Chinook through hatchery fish likely won’t start for another year or so. But without knowing what exactly is causing declining Chinook numbers, it’s difficult to find the right solution. The commissioner believes something is happening to juvenile salmon out in the ocean and that’s the big unanswered question the department needs to answer.
“We know kind of what we’re putting in terms of eggs into the gravel. But we really don’t have a very good snapshot of what is happening to those juveniles when they are born out of the gravel and what may be impacting their survival once they get out into the ocean," Vincent-Lang said. "We’re starting to piece together that first month and a half out in the ocean but that juvenile piece we’re still missing.”
Vincent-Lang added that changing ocean conditions from climate change have impacted Chinook salmon within the last ten to 15 years. That includes warming waters, changes in food source availability, and more predators like marine mammals eating young kings.
The commissioner said in the face of all these challenges for Chinook, Fish and Game is looking to conduct more research and wants to find out what is happening to king salmon across Alaska’s waters.
“So I think there is going to be a push for federal and state money to better address what is happening to Chinook salmon in next year’s budget. I just don’t know what that is yet because we are still putting it together,” Vincent-Lang explained.
Alaska Fisheries Science Center submitted a request to incidentally take marine mammals during its 5-year research starting in October of this year. AFSC plans to conduct this fisheries and ecosystem research in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans in conjunction with the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC).
Similarly, a federal task force also released its final report earlier this month on Alaska salmon research and recommended improving stock identification methods, and expanding ocean ecosystem surveys, among other things.
Meanwhile, currently in the commercial fishery for the entire Kodiak Area (including the Mainland District) all Chinook (king) salmon 28 inches or greater in length may not be retained by purse seine gear in the commercial fishery and must be returned to the water unharmed.
The most recent salmon fishery information may be obtained by calling the local Alaska Department of Fish and Game office’s 24-hour phone recording at 907 486 4559.
