US Fish and Wildlife Service Grant for Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Anchor River Salmon Research

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this agreement is to provide support and assistance to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (Department) in acquiring baseline data for Chinook and coho salmon populations in the Anchor River watershed. The cooperative agreement will support the Department’s Sport Fish Division and its ability to respond with appropriate management measures to maintain sustainable harvests in the face of environmental changes in the Anchor River watershed. This project is a test of a potentially useful technique to assist fisheries management with a broad application for other Kenai Peninsula streams.

OBJECTIVES:

The objectives of this agreement are to provide support and assistance to the Department for field work and sampling during August and September, 2010. Sampling will be conducted by Service and Department personnel in the Anchor River to estimate numbers of Chinook and coho salmon smolts emigrating from the Anchor River watershed, estimate Chinook and coho salmon overwinter survival, estimate coho salmon smolt-to-adult survival, estimate the habitat type-specific mean density of juvenile Chinook and coho salmon, and count the number of adult coho salmon passing the weir in the Anchor River from late July through October.

BACKGROUND

Existing habitat inventory data and assessments throughout Alaska are incomplete. This limits the capacity of resource managers to understand, anticipate, and prepare appropriate responses to changes in watershed processes that can result from anthropogenic and climate change. The Service is implementing a habitat assessment project on the Anchor River watershed using a predictive model called RIPPLE. The RIPPLE model characterizes geomorphic and ecological processes that create and maintain freshwater salmon habitat, predicts the distribution of fish habitat conditions, and simulates salmon population dynamics. The goals of the project are to assess current habitat conditions for Chinook and coho salmon in the Anchor River watershed, to increase the understanding of the relationship of key life stages of salmon to these habitats throughout the watershed, and to model the potential population responses of Chinook and coho salmon populations to restoration efforts and potential shifts resulting from climate change. The Service and Department will conduct field investigations to validate and support the application of the RIPPLE model in the Anchor River watershed through the objectives identified above.

REASON FOR SINGLE SOURCE:

(1) Unique Qualifications – The Department is the leading State agency with expertise and authority in salmon stock assessment, protection, and management which support the mission of the Service on a cost recoverable basis. The Department is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors. First of all, the Department owns the fish counting weir, rotary-screw trap, and field support equipment on the Anchor River that the project needs to successfully monitor juvenile and adult salmon populations. Secondly, the Department has the technical expertise to run the fish counting weir through the coho salmon run as they have done for the past several years. The Department will also be providing their technical expertise to assist with other aspects of field sampling including operating a rotary-screw trap and sampling juvenile fish densities with a variety of standard field techniques. Thirdly, the Department has the ability to support their crew and the project in the field based on existing infrastructure and logistical support in Homer and Anchor Point.