The 2000 fishwheel project on the Nass River, BC / prepared by Richard F. Alexander, Michael R. Link and Robert C. Bocking. : Fs97-4/2616E-PDF

"Up to six fishwheels were operated on the lower Nass River from 11 June to 29 September 2000. The fishwheels operated for a total of 11,196 h and captured 61,455 salmon. Catches of adult salmon included 33,879 sockeye, 10,206 pink, 8,529 coho, 5,003 chinook, 1,476 steelhead, and 241 chum. Of these, 6,833 sockeye, 2,078 coho, 1,907 chinook salmon, and 1,383 steelhead were tagged. Totals of 422 chinook, 1,554 sockeye and 621 coho salmon from the catch were successfully aged using scales. A total of 7,020 tagged fish were later recovered (or observed) at the Meziadin fishway, in in-river fisheries and on tributaries of the Nass River. From 2 July to 16 August, a total of 15,746 sockeye and 517 coho were selectively harvested from the fishwheels as part of the entitlement and harvest agreements of the Nisga'a Treaty that was finalized and signed in May 2000. Counts of marked and unmarked fish from the Meziadin fishway and in-river harvests were used to compute net escapement estimates for sockeye (204,392) and coho salmon (71,220). The coho estimate represented only a portion of the total coho escapement because the fishwheels did not operate through the entire coho run and recovery efforts were confined to an early run stock (Meziadin River). The net chinook escapement (18,047) was derived by a mark-recapture estimate (spawning ground surveys) minus estimated in-river harvests above Grease Harbour tagging sites. The six fishwheels combined caught an estimated 23.9% of the chinook run, 14.8% of the sockeye run, and 11.9% of the coho run. Including subsequent in-river harvests and lower Nass escapement estimates, an estimated 28,487 chinook and 275,799 sockeye salmon entered the Nass River in 2000. Daily tag release (at the fishwheels) and recovery data (at the Meziadin fishway) were used to reconstruct the sockeye abundance in the lower river and assess the within-season variation in the portion of the sockeye run caught by the fishwheels"--Abstract, page ix.

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