Preliminary Estimate of the Escapement of Summer Steelhead to the Nass River, 1998

Abundance estimates of the summer steelhead escapement to the Nass River was estimated with mark-recapture methods. The preliminary estimate was exploratory in nature and the primary objective of the marking and recovery of steelhead were marked with numbered Floy anchor tags and adipose fin clips at the Nass River fishwheels. The tags and fin clips distinguished marked from unmarked steelhead in the recovery sample, collected from Bell-Irving, Cranberry, Kwinageese, and Meziadin rivers and Damdochax Creek and the Upper Nass river. unbiased mark-recapture estimators were used to calculate a preliminary estimate of the abundance of steelhead that migrated during fishwheel operations.