Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Regional Information Report No. 5J.2012.17, Anchorage
Uncertainty about the magnitude, frequency, location, and timing of the nonlocal harvest of sockeye and chum salmon in Western Alaska fisheries was the impetus for the Western Alaska Salmon Stock Identification Project (WASSIP). The project was designed to use genetic data in mixed stock analysis (MSA) to reduce this uncertainty. Defining reporting groups for MSA provides the framework for reporting fishery stock composition estimates. Reporting groups refer to the groups of populations to which fishery mixtures will be allocated during mixed stock analyses. At the March 17, 2011 WASSIP meeting, the Gene Conservation Laboratory (GCL) proposed subregional reporting groups or to set the process to establish all subregional reporting groups, for sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka. All proposed subregional reporting groups were approved by the advisory panel (AP) members with the exception of one (Goodnews/Togiak). The department proposed combining Goodnews and Togiak into one reporting group if these 2 reporting groups, separately, did not meet the 90% criterion in proof tests. There was no consensus among AP members present to accept this proposal primarily because these 2 reporting groups straddle 2 management regions (Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim and Central). The loss of drainage-specific information of the harvest would reduce the utility of WASSIP information for resource managers. The GCL was tasked with testing the identifiability of the Goodnews River and Togiak Bay reporting groups to determine if they met the 90% correct allocation criterion and to present the findings to the AP. Although the 90% criterion was not met in some of the tests, correct allocations for the most challenging tests averaged 86%. Given these results and the management complexities associated with combining the 2 subregional reporting groups, the department now recommends that they should be maintained separately
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