Continue operations of a weir on the george river to index chinook (oncorhynchus tshawytscha), chum (o. Keta), and coho (o. Kisutch) salmon escapement to the middle portion of the kuskokwim river…

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game received a $149,699 Cooperative Agreement from the Department of the Interior's Interior Business Center under the Alaska Subsistence Management program (CFDA 15.636), awarded July 1, 2025, with completion targeted for March 31, 2026. This award supports continued operation of a weir facility on the George River in the Kuskokwim River drainage to monitor and index Chinook, chum, and coho salmon escapement. The weir generates essential quantitative data on salmon run size and escapement composition that directly informs subsistence fishery management decisions and feeds into broader models estimating total annual Chinook salmon abundance and escapement for the Kuskokwim River system. This monitoring effort extends a critical 25-year dataset used to evaluate whether escapements remain within established management goals.

In addition to its core monitoring function, the award funds a high school internship program designed to build local capacity within the Kuskokwim region. Since 2005, the George River Weir has served as a training site for hundreds of high school students and multiple college interns, many of whom have subsequently become fisheries technicians, crew leaders, and university students pursuing degrees in fisheries science. This dual focus on data collection and workforce development directly addresses priority information needs identified in the 2022 Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program request for proposals and supports the program's emphasis on collaborative, multidisciplinary efforts to sustain subsistence fisheries management in rural Alaska.

Continue operations of a weir on the george river to index chinook (oncorhynchus tshawytscha), chum (o. Keta), and coho (o. Kisutch) salmon escapement to the middle portion of the kuskokwim river drainage, as well as conduct a high school internship program as part of our long-term efforts to build local capacity. Our proposal is in response to the priority information needs identified in the 2022 frmp request for proposals to obtain reliable quantitative and or qualitative estimates of salmon run size, escapement, and harvest in the kuskokwim river drainage, including kuskokwim BAY tributaries. This proposal would continue a 25-year dataset used to evaluate the size and composition of chinook, chum, and coho salmon escapements to the middle kuskokwim river. Annual monitoring is needed to evaluate if escapements are within the bounds of the established chinook salmon escapement goal on the george river. In addition, escapement at the george river weir is used to inform a model that estimates total annual abundance and escapement for kuskokwim river chinook salmon. The success of the george river weir has made IT an integral component of the broader salmon escapement monitoring program on the kuskokwim river. Apart from its utility to the management of the kuskokwim river subsistence fishery, the george river weir has been important in fostering community awareness, understanding, and direct involvement in fisheries assessment. Since 2005, the george river weir has been the site of high school mentorship and college internship programs sponsoring hundreds of high school age students and multiple college interns from throughout the kuskokwim region. The internship program has proven to be highly successful. In recent years, many of the fisheries technicians and crew leaders working on kuskokwim river weir projects are past graduates of the high school and college internship programs. Several are currently pursuing degrees in fisheries science. We will conduct daily visual counts of salmon escapement to the george river from 15 june to 20 september and collect ASL samples from 230 chinook salmon, 400 chum salmon, and 400 coho salmon throughout the run, in proportion to run abundance. All data will be uploaded to a publicly accessible database and made available weekly at inseason meetings to inform fisheries management decisions. Final results will be published in the adfg fishery data series. An 8-day internship will be provided for up to 10 students. Staff from adfg and native village of napaimute (NVN) will conduct this internship in partnership. Of particular interest is the internship program which provides students from communities in the area with the opportunity to interact with biologists, adfg staff, and professional educators acting as mentors. Throughout this project, adfg and NVN will work together to disseminate project results and related fisheries management issues to middle river communities during quarterly stakeholder newsletters and community meetings in the middle river.