We work together with the Alaska Department of Fish Game to provide ecosystem indicators, to study the early marine ecology of salmon, and to support the management of salmon fisheries in Southeast Alaska. The Southeast Alaska Coastal Monitoring survey has been conducted for over 20 years and is well known for providing harvest forecasts for Southeast Alaska pink salmon. Many attempts have been made to forecast pink salmon harvests but none have been as successful as the Southeast Alaska Coastal Monitoring survey. Given our success with estimating pink salmon abundance, we are expanding the scope of the surveys to support forecast and production models for other salmon species and continuing to look for new ways to improve our understanding of Southeast Alaska's marine ecosystems.
From July 26 to August 1, our team of scientists will be on the water collecting information on salmon. We will be collecting a variety of information including the weight and length and general condition (i.e., how fat they are, which means they have been finding plenty of food to help them grow) of fish caught in our survey. We'll share updates on what we learn during and after the survey. Stay tuned!
