Skeena River Steelhead Stock- Assessment Program: 1994 Catch and Escapement Monitoring Plan

During 1994, a large scale stock-assessment program was implemented to determine the status of steelhead and coho populations in the Skeena River. Catches in commercial fisheries were to be monitored by means of a fishery observer program. Escapements were to be estimated primarily by fence counts combined with radio-tagging and tracking operations. This report describes (i) the rationale for the approach selected, (ii) the procedures used to determine the distribution of observer, tagging, and survey effort levels required, and (iii) the features of the model used to estimate escapements to each major tributary.