Estimates of Sockeye Salmon Escapement to the Newhalen River near Lake Clark National Park and Preserve: 1980-2026 — Data Package

Young, Dan

doi:10.57830/2316587

Salmon returning to subsistence fisheries are essential to the diet, economy, and culture of local communities in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. More than half of the subsistence harvest by local community residents is composed of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), with sockeye salmon (O. nerka) comprising the majority. Of those sockeye salmon harvested, most have historically come from the Kvichak River watershed, which includes Lake Clark, making this species a vital resource for federally qualified subsistence users in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (LACL). The number of migrating adult salmon that “escape” harvest to spawn in their natal habitat is commonly referred to as escapement. Reliable estimates of sockeye salmon escapement to Lake Clark have been identified as a priority information need for LACL resource managers, and fish-counting towers provide an accurate and efficient method for estimating escapement. In 1980, the University of Washington Fisheries Research Institute established fish-counting towers on the Newhalen River to quantify the contribution of the Lake Clark system to the overall Kvichak River sockeye salmon run. The project operated through 1984. In 2000, the University of Washington and the U.S. Geological Survey re-established the counting towers at the original site using the same monitoring protocols. Management of the project was transferred to the National Park Service in 2004, and annual operations have continued since then. The primary objectives of the project are to (1) estimate sockeye salmon escapement to Lake Clark and (2) characterize the escapement by age, sex, and length. This dataset focuses on the first objective. It includes daily estimates of sockeye salmon escapement at the Newhalen River counting towers for 1980-1984 and 2000-2024 and provides a long-term record for assessing temporal variation in escapement to the Lake Clark system.