THE SEGREGATION OF RED SALMON IN THE 



ESCAPEMENTS TO THE KVICHAK RIVER 



SYSTEM, ALASKA 



by 



Howard Donald Smith 



Senior Fisheries Biologist 



Fisheries Research Institute 



University of Washington 



Seattle, Washington 



ABSTRACT 



Groups of red salmon bound for specific spawning grounds in the Kvichak River 

 system, Alaska, were studied to determine the extent of their segregation during 

 migration up the river. Spawning groups were found to be intermingled to the extent 

 that they could not be managed independently through the application of differential 

 fishing pressure. 



INTRODUCTION 



Bristol Bay, Alaska, derives its world- 

 renowned red salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) runs 

 from five large and several small river sys- 

 tems which drain into it. The largest and 

 most productive of these is the Kvichak. 



The relative size of the important Bristol 

 Bay river systems was reported by the U.S. 

 Army Corps of Engineers (1957), and the 

 following table lists several which will be 

 mentioned in this report: 



Total 



15,956 



Note: Howard Donald Smith now with the Fisheries 

 Research Board of Canada. 



The location of each of these river systems 

 is shown in figure 1. The highly productive 

 Kvichak River includes lliamna Lake, about 

 1,115 square miles in area, and Lake Clark, 

 about 143 square miles. 



Although the Kvichak River Salmon run is 

 the most important in Bristol Bay, it is not 

 possible to determine its precise economic 

 worth because the catch is a composite of fish 

 destined not only for the Kvichak but also for 

 the neighboring Naknek, Alagnak, and Egegik 

 Rivers. 



The Egegik River empties seaward to the 

 mouth of the other streams, but unpublished 

 results of tagging experiments by the Fisheries 

 Research Institute (FRI) of the University of 

 Washington in 1947 and a report by the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Alaska 

 Region, (1958) show that Egegik River fish 

 sometimes account for as much as 8 percent 

 of the Kvichak River catch. The Bureau report 

 (p. 16) showed that of 9.672 fish tagged at the 

 lower boundary of the Kvichak-Naknek fish- 

 ing district, 3,414 were recovered by the end 



