Community-based harvest monitoring network for kuskokwim river chinook salmon

Subsistence harvest assessments have historically been based on postseason household surveys, with no availability of reliable inseason harvests prior to 2016. Robust harvest estimates for each opening is critically important given the severe lack of high quality inseason data on run abundance and run timing to guide decision-making by federal managers. Through the delivery of near real-time harvest data from lower river subsistence communities, this project addresses a critical information need and directly supports federal management of chinook salmon subsistence fisheries in federal waters of the kuskokwim river by providing catch and effort data necessary for inseason estimation of subsistence harvests. This project addresses the following priority information needs for the kuskokwim region as identified by the yukon-kuskokwim delta regional advisory council and the western interior regional advisory council: reliable quantitative and or qualitative estimates of salmon run size, escapement, and harvest in the kuskokwim river drainage including kuskokwim BAY tributaries new methods for conducting inseason salmon run assessments in the kuskokwim river drainage, for example community-based harvest monitoring, sonar, and village test fisheries information sharing between stakeholders and agencies concerning salmon conservation in the kuskokwim river drainage, for example outreach to villages using the media and other methods. Objectives:the overall project goals are to: (1) continue to develop and implement a framework for a community-based harvest monitoring network to inform inseason management with data on abundances, and species compositions and ratios in subsistence harvests (2) collect age, SEX, and length (ASL) data from chinook salmon harvested in the lower portion of the kuskokwim river and (3) contribute to capacity building and data transparency into the future (figure 4). IT is intended that the monitoring network protocols developed over the past four years be continued and refined as needed to continue project success. Project objectives are to: 1. Identify participant villages willing to support community-based monitors in interview sampling. 2. Train village monitors to respectfully conduct harvest interviews. 3. Collect subsistence harvest data from subsistence fishing opportunities during early june to the end of the lower river chinook salmon run in july, including catch by species and fishing effort. 4. Electronically transfer data within 12 hours of the end of a fishing opportunity for compilation to inform managers regarding run strength and composition. 5. Collect biological data (ASL) from chinook salmon harvested in subsistence fisheries. 6. Through community monitors, relay information on subsistence fishing opportunities to local community members, and relay local concerns to inseason managers. 7. Work with other agency and NGO staff to compile, review, and report on inseason and post-season harvest summaries as collected from this and related projects including aerial surveys.