Commercial Salmon Fisheries
Taku River Fishwheels - Sockeye Counts

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Fish wheels on the Taku River are an essential platform for the Chinook, sockeye, and coho salmon mark-recapture program, which provides inseason and postseason escapement estimates. Because fish wheel catchability can be affected by factors such as water level, fish size, abundance, daily spin time, etc., daily fish wheel catches do not necessarily have a meaningful relationship with upriver abundance. In 2023, fish wheel operation protocols were changed (fish wheels operations are now 8 hours a day instead of 16 hours a day) so catch numbers are not comparable to previous years. Questions related to the Taku River fish wheel project can be directed to Jeff Williams at (907) 465-8251.

Bilateral mark-recapture data for Taku River sockeye salmon through day 3 of statistical week (SW) 30 (July 23) includes 773 tags released, 5,579 fish inspected, and 44 recoveries. Bayesian Time Stratified Population Analysis Software (BTPAS) was used to generate an inriver run estimate of sockeye salmon past Canyon Island as of July 23. Per recommendations of the Transboundary Panel, the inriver run estimate was reduced by 15% to 77,305 (SD = 18,253) sockeye salmon to account for tag dropout and size selectivity of gear. After accounting for Canadian harvest, the current escapement estimate is 71,726 sockeye salmon. Using recent 10 year average, 46% of the sockeye salmon run is past Canyon Island by July 23 and so after accounting for U.S. harvest this week’s estimate projects to a final inriver run of 167,698 sockeye salmon and a terminal run of 219,700 sockeye salmon. This estimate compares with a 2024 preseason terminal run forecast of 207,000 fish and a ten-year average terminal run size of 177,000 fish.

The Taku River sockeye salmon escapement goal range is 40,000 to 75,000 fish, with a management objective of 58,000 fish.

Chilkoot Lake Weir | Chilkat Lake Weir | Hugh Smith Weir | Redoubt Lake Weir (Sockeye)
Situk (Lower) Weir (Chinook) | Situk (Lower) Weir (Sockeye) | Taku River Fishwheels (Sockeye)
Taku River Fishwheels (Coho)