WAHLE and VREELAND: BIOECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF FALL CHINOOK SALMON 



Table 8. — Estimated catches of special marked fall chinook salmon from Spring Creek National Fish 

 Hatchery and potential contributions by fishery type and brood (1961-64), 1963-69. 



'Setnet and dip net fisheries. 



fish per 1,000 released and 2.3 fish per pound of 

 fish released. 



Kalama River Hatcheries, 1961-64 Broods 



The production at Kalama Falls Salmon Hatch- 

 ery and Lower Kalama Salmon Hatchery was 

 combined for this study. Common and special 

 marks were applied to the production at both 

 facilities. The Ad, RV, and M special mark was 

 allocated to the Kalama facilities. The RM clip 

 was used with the 1961 and 1963 broods, and the 

 LM mark was used with 1962 and 1964 broods. For 

 all brood years, approximately 109^ of both hatch- 

 eries' fall chinook salmon production was marked 

 with a special mark. 



We estimated 5,096 chinook salmon with spe- 

 cial marks from Kalama River hatcheries were 

 captured in the ocean and Columbia River 

 fisheries from 1963 through 1969 (Table 9). Gen- 

 erally for the four brood years, over half of the 

 Kalama fish were caught in their fourth and fifth 

 years of life. However, the age distribution did 

 vary by brood year. The 1961 and 1964 broods 

 were over 60% 4- and 5-yr-old fish while these two 



age-groups contributed less than 50% to the 1962- 

 and 1963-brood catches. The Kalama chinook 

 salmon contributed to the Alaska fisheries 

 primarily as 4-yr-olds; and the larger the Cana- 

 dian catch, the larger the Alaskan catch. In 1968 

 the Canadian catch of Kalama fish was large and 

 no sampling took place in the Alaska fisheries. 

 Thus a significant contribution to Alaska of 

 1964-brood Kalama fall chinook salmon in 1968 

 could have been missed. 



The potential contribution of Kalama River 

 hatcheries fall chinook salmon totaled 172,400 

 fish for the four brood years (Table 9). The con- 

 tributions ranged from a low of 22,300 fish for the 

 1962 brood to a high of 56,800 fish for the 1961 

 brood. The average contribution for all four broods 

 combined was 43,100. This is an average potential 

 contribution to Pacific coast fisheries of 9.6 fish for 

 each 1,000 smolts released and 2.0 fish caught for 

 every pound of fish released. 



Kalama chinook salmon contributed primarily 

 to British Columbia, Washington, and Columbia 

 River gillnet fisheries (Figure 4). The largest con- 

 tribution was to British Columbia followed by 

 Washington, Columbia River, Oregon, and 

 Alaska, in that order. 



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