Sockeye Salmon (Onchorhynchus nerka) Management in Bristol Bay, Alaska

Minard, Eric; Meacham, Charles

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages Bristol Bay sockeye salmon (Onchorhynchus nerka) on a maximum sustained yield basis. Annual harvest for the period 1976 through 1985 averaged 19 million sockeye salmon from total runs averaging 32.3 million. The primary management strategy is to regulate commercial fishing in five fishing districts to obtain an optimum spawning escapement in each of eight separate river systems. For systems where historic data exist, spawner-recruit analysis is used to establish the optimum number of spawners (escapement goal). Management ranges are set around the goal at values that would produce returns equal to 95% of the maximum yield achieved by the optimal point value and are therefore determined by each system's productivity pattern. Commercial catch is regulated by Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission limitations of numbers of fisherman, specifying fishing gear, restricting fishing areas, and limiting fishing times. A series of interrelated management and research projects is conducted at an annual operational cost of nearly $1 million to facilitate management of Bristol Bay salmon. Projects include: a pre-season forecast of adult returns; test fishing both offshore and within districts to assess numbers and distribution of fish. The resulting data are analyzed daily and used by local management biologists to set fishing time each day in each of five commercial fishing districts.

Sockeye Salmon (Onchorhynchus nerka) Management in Bristol Bay, Alaska

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