US Fish and Wildlife Service Grant: McLees Lake Sockeye Salmon Monitoring and Tribal Capacity Building

BACKGROUND

Unalaska Village, on Unalaska Island, lies approximately 1,250 km southwest of Anchorage. While there is no commercial harvest of sockeye salmon in the region, this species is of great importance to local subsistence fishers. Unalaska Village is in close proximity to Unalaska Lake, and the residents of Unalaska have historically made use of the sockeye Oncorhynchus nerka stocks that return there each year to spawn. In 1997, the waters closest to the outlet of Unalaska Lake (approximately 100-m) were closed to subsistence fishing in an attempt to protect this stock and increase spawning escapements. With the decline of the sockeye salmon run to Unalaska Lake, Unalaska Village residents shifted their fishing efforts to the McLees Lake sockeye salmon run. This drainage is an important spawning and rearing habitat for sockeye salmon, and provides a relatively protected fishing area within Reese Bay, where the system empties into the Bering Sea. Annual fluctuations in subsistence harvest have generally corresponded to the number of permits issued for the Unalaska District subsistence fishery. Since 1985, the number of subsistence permits issued for this fishery steadily increased, from 65 in 1985 to a peak of 231 in 2002 (Tschersich & Russ 2008). In 1992, the number of permits nearly doubled from that seen in the previous year, and though there has been a slow decline in permit applications since then, the number issued in 2008 was 207, well above the pre-1992 levels. These numbers reflect the increasing importance of sockeye salmon as a subsistence resource for the Unalaska community.
Prior to 2001, management of the fishery was based on aerial surveys, which had been conducted since 1974, and subsistence harvest data, which has been collected since 1985 (Palmer 2002). In 2001, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) installed a weir to assess the escapement, and aerial surveys were discontinued in 2003. Aerial surveys were generally limited to one survey each year, and counts ranged from 300 to 34,000 fish (A. R. Shaul, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG), personal communication). While aerial counts served as an index of abundance, they were greatly influenced by several factors including time of survey, poor weather, lack of suitable aircraft, and variation among observers.
Local residents and the ADFG were concerned that lack of reliable escapement estimates for sockeye salmon into McLees Lake could jeopardize the health of the run, as well as future opportunities for subsistence fishing. These concerns prompted the Kodiak/Aleutians Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council to identify an escapement monitoring project on McLees Lake as a high priority. To address these concerns, the USFWS and the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska entered into a partnership agreement to monitor the sockeye salmon return to McLees Lake from 2001 to 2003, and the USFWS Office of Subsistence Management provided funding to the Kenai Fish and Wildlife Field Office for the work through the Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program as project number FIS 01-059. Monitoring was continued by the King Salmon Fish and Wildlife Field Office from 2004 to 2006 as project FIS 04-404. In 2007, the King Salmon office became the Fisheries Branch of the Anchorage Fish and Wildlife Field Office (AFO) and continues the project to date. The McLees Lake sockeye salmon escapement project was funded through 2009 as project FIS 07-405.
Returns have generally declined since escapements were first monitored in 2001. Returns in 2008-09 were the lowest on record and promted in-season closures to the subsistence fishery. To maintain accurate and timely escapement monitoring, and to attempt to determine the reason for these low returns, the Office of Subsistence Management approved an out-of-cycle proposal to continue this project during 2010-11.
PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

The primary purpose of this cooperative agreement is to build capacity within the Qawalangin Tribe and others for future projects by hiring and training local natives of the Village of Unalaska and/or local residents as research assistants to conduct field sampling. This project is of high strategic importance for the Anchorage Fish and Wildlife Field Office (AFO), Qawalangin Tribe, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). The project addresses fisheries assessment needs identified by the Kodiak/Aleutians Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory.

Specific objectives of this study are to:
1. Enumerate the daily passage of sockeye salmon through the weir,
2. Describe the run-timing, or proportional daily passage, of sockeye salmon through the weir,
3. Estimate the sex and age composition of sockeye salmon such that simultaneous 90% confidence intervals have a maximum width of 0.20, and
4. Estimate the mean length of sockeye salmon by sex and age.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PARTIES

A flexible picket weir spanning 21 m will be installed at the outlet of McLees Lake and operated from 1 June to 31 July 2010. A live trap will be constructed on the upstream side of the weir to facilitate the sampling of fish and passage of adult salmon through the weir. The weir and live trap will be inspected daily and maintained as needed to ensure integrity.
Fish will be passed and counted intermittently between 07:00 and 24:00 hours each day. The duration of each counting session varied depending on the number of fish arriving at the weir. Escapement counts were relayed to the AFO via satellite phone, and the AFO reported escapement information to ADFG managers (via e-mail) to support in-season management of the Reese Bay subsistence fishery.
A. The Service shall:

1. Provide a Crew Leader, one research assistant, biological support and oversight, and logistical and administrative assistance necessary to successfully complete the project.

2. Provide training to the cooperator in the proper protocols for data collection and fish handling.

3. The Service will routinely monitor project status, including performance of research assistants hired by the Recipient, through communications with the Recipient, as well as other project investigators, but may also conduct one or more site visits each year. At any time, the Service may send staff to evaluate the status of the project. The Service is not required, but will make every effort to, afford advance oral notification of such visits.

4. Provide housing and subsistence while crews are actively working at field camp

5. Report daily capture information via phone, email or fax to the ADF&G Commercial Fisheries personnel in Sand Point, providing fishery managers with in-season salmon run data for the Alaska Peninsula.

6. Provide all transportation from the field camp to access the weir- site or other areas needed to perform the duties assigned.

7. Project findings will be annually reported to the Office of Subsistence Management Fisheries Monitoring Program, the Kodiak/Aleutians Regional Advisory Council, and published in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Fisheries Technical or Data Series reports.

8. Data will be archived per AFO standards.

9. Project findings will be presented to the Qawalangin Tribal Council each year.

B. The Recipient shall:

1. Hire one research assistants to work a total of 2 months during the time-frame May 25 – July 31, 2010; and exact dates will be provided by the USFWS investigators.

2. Shall provide supervision, administration and other services as necessary to assist in obtaining abundance estimates, including collecting biological data, for sockeye salmon entering the McLees Lake watershed.

3. While at the worksite, in travel status, and/or associated housing, the research assistants will abide by Service and Qawalangin Tribe rules regarding conduct and safety.

4. Provide 300 square feet of enclosed, locked storage located on ground level (Conex box).

C. Project performance will be evaluated in season through bi-weekly meetings between Service and the Qawalangin Tribe Project Officers listed in Section IX. Following the field season, a collaborative analysis by Service, the Qawalangin Tribe, and ADF&G will be used to evaluate the success of the project and to determine next steps.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance will be for one base year to begin this fiscal year and four option years, the option years will be subject to the availability of funds and the satisfactory completion of previous year’s objectives. The Service retains the right to withhold funding for Option Periods of the study, if sufficient study progress is not achieved or funds are not appropriately used or if funding is not available.