Live Capture and Tagging of Skeena Chinook Feasibility Study

The Skeena River supports over 75 separate spawning populations of Chinook salmon. Four river systems, the Kitsumkalum, Morice, Kispiox and Bear Rivers account for approximately 70% of the total spawner abundance. Fisheries managers and stock assessment biologists have identified radio-telemetry as a potential tool that could be used to fill some of the key information gaps for Skeena Chinook. Chinook salmon were sampled from the Skeena River at Kuldo in 2008 to see if sufficient Chinook could be taken to carry out an upstream portion of a Skeena-wide radio-tagging program, initially set for 2009 and 2010.