Freshwater Fish Inventory

Molly McCormick, Fisheries Inventory Biologist
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

The primary objective of the fish inventory program is to determine the occurrence and distribution of freshwater and anadromous fish species within the three Central Alaska Network parks. The fish inventory was combined with water quality monitoring, and work on these two projects was conducted simultaneously at the same sampling sites. Field work has been completed in all three parks. A final report was submitted on October 12, 2004:

CAKN_FreshwaterFishFinalReport_10112004.pdf (1.1Mb)

A variety of sampling methods were used throughout the fish inventory project. These included hoop traps, minnow traps, gill nets, fyke nets, set lines, beach seines, electrofishers, and hook and line. Voucher specimens were collected and will be housed in the University of Alaska Fairbanks museum.

Field work was conducted in Wrangell-St. Elias over three summers, 2001-2003. Ninety-two sites were sampled, including 27 lakes/ponds, 13 rivers, and 52 creeks. Fifteen species of fish were found: round whitefish, chinook salmon, coho salmon, sockeye salmon, dolly varden, arctic grayling, slimy sculpin, rainbow trout, longnose suckers, burbot, lake trout, Pacific lamprey, starry flounder, three-spine stickleback, and eulachon. Four of these species - slimy sculpin, Pacific lamprey, three-spine stickleback and eulachon - were on the expected list but had not been documented previously in the park. There are still a few unidentified specimens from the 2003 field season.

Six lakes/ponds were sampled in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve during the 2002 field season. Lake chub and northern pike were found.

Inventories were conducted at 36 sampling sites in Denali National Park and Preserve during 2003. These included 20 lakes/ponds, 6 river sites, and 10 creeks. Thirteen fish species were identified: Alaska blackfish, northern pike, burbot, lake trout, slimy sculpin, coho salmon, chinook salmon, chum salmon, arctic lamprey, arctic grayling, round whitefish, humpback whitefish, and longnose sucker. Five of these - northern pike, longnose suckers, Alaska blackfish, arctic lamprey, and humpback whitefish - were documented for the first time. There are still several specimens from Denali that have yet to be identified.

Work will be completed on the final report during 2004, and the specimens will become part of a long-term loan to the UAF natural history museum.