Lake Clark Sockeye Salmon Research

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Alaska Science Center - Biological Science Office
Lake Clark Fisheries Projects Overview

Cooperative sockeye salmon research in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
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 Tracey checks her drying salmon, Nondalton Fish Camp, Alaska. The fish will later be hung in the smoke house (background) and smoldering alder will flavor the meat

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

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in southwestern Alaska

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.

Lake Clark at sunset. Photo by Dan Young

(continued to page 2 of the Overview)