Anadromous Stream Catalog
Salmon Stream Mapping
| The Alaska Department of Fish and Game maintains a database that contains all of the salmon streams in Alaska, and they use this information to determine which waterbodies are protected. The actual locations of the streams in this database are often inaccurate at the scale used for making decisions on individual parcels. We now have newer technology to more accurately map these streams using a GPS, satellite image interpretation, and observations in the field. This project preserves salmon habitat through regulatory protection and directs our attention to new stream crossings that often pose potential barriers to salmon migration. |  |
Above: Newer technologies were used extensively to modify stream positions and add new streams where salmon were observed. |
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| Above: Field mapping salmon streams. |
Juvenile Salmon Trapping
| In suspected salmon streams, we place minnow traps filled with delicious, treated salmon eggs to attract juvenile fish. After four to six hours, we examine and photograph our catch of dolly varden, coho, rainbow trout, chinook, and/or sockeye, and then the fish are released. Back in the office, we use the GIS with satellite imagery to trace the path of the new salmon stream from our trap location downstream to the next cataloged water body, and this data is submitted to the Department of Fish and Game for addition to the Fish Distribution Database. In the past few trapping seasons, we have found over 20 new miles of salmon streams that are now protected, and we will continue trapping in the future. |  |
| Above: Nearly 3 miles of new stream recently added to the State’s Fish Distribution Database is now afforded state protection. | |
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| Field Trapping | Coho Identified |