New eulachon population research in Southeast Alaska rivers may help biologists learn more about the habitats of the small but important fish.
Meredith Pochardt, executive director of the Takshanuk Watershed Council, said the organization is contracted by the Chilkoot Indian Association to complete field work with Taal Levi, a fisheries and wildlife professor at Oregon State University.
The group will continue population research in the Chilkat and Chilkoot rivers, and start new research in the Ferebee, Katzehin, Taiya, Berners, Lace and Antler rivers this spring.
The tribe and Takshanuk have been studying the Chilkat and Chilkoot runs of eulachon – a smelt also known as hooligan or candlefish – since 2010. Money granted to CIA from the Bureau of Indian Affairs has allowed the research to expand.
Eulachon are a prized subsistence food for Tlingit Natives, who use oil from the fish as a condiment and health tonic.
“The expanded work that we’re doing this year costs approximately $100,000 per year. We have two years of funding secured through the grant as of now,” Pochardt said. “We are continually working to pursue additional funding to ensure that this study is able to continue. It’s important to get a long-term baseline and a regional perspective on this species.”
According to data compiled by the tribe and Takshanuk, only about 319,000 fish returned to the Chilkoot River in 2015, the lowest number in at least five years. But that number surged to about 1.8 million during a first pulse last year. A second pulse last year as much as doubled that amount.
“The eulachon population is highly variable from year to year,” the report said.
Estimates of the eulachon return to the Chilkoot River were 2.2 million in 2010, 12.6 million in 2011, 7.1 million in 2012, 3.4 million in 2014, 319,586 in 2015, and 1.8 million in 2016.
Pochardt said in addition to mark-and-recapture population estimates done in recent years, researchers are testing other methods to determine the most accurate way to estimate population. One is a new technology called E-DNA, where liters of water are collected and analyzed for DNA content to estimate how many fish came into contact with that water.
Sonny Williams is a lifelong eulachon fisherman who has a perspective on eulachon behavior. “I notice they’re changing,” Williams said. “They used to go to Chilkat side first, but now they’ve come to the Chilkoot side first for the last two years.”
Eulachon populations have declined on the West Coast. The National Marine Fisheries Service listed the eulachon south of the Canada border as a distinct population segment “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in 2010. “Nearly all spawning runs from California to southeastern Alaska have declined in the past 20 years, especially since the mid-1990s,” according to the NOAA website.
Declines also have been reported in Alaska rivers, including the Unuk River near Ketchikan. “I think they just got wiped out by overfishing in some places or doing something to the river that made them change,” Williams said.
This year’s run began in the Chilkoot River around April 27. Williams said on Tuesday he saw eulachon in the Chilkat River near 1 Mile Haines Highway and said they could be found all the way up to 6 Mile.
“No one knows how far up the river they go, and nobody has the money to find out,” Williams said. He suspects the fish could travel all the way up to 19 Mile.
Williams has kept track of when the runs come and go since 2006. Runs can last anywhere from seven to 10 days, he said.
So far, Williams said, “The run looks really enormous. It is just fantastic.” He said the fish also are really large. Pochardt agreed, saying, “Chilkoot seems to be a pretty strong run so far.”
Residents like Cody Fisher-Hotch and Chris Thorgesen spent the weekend with their families using dip nets and throw nets to catch eulachon. Thick schools turned sections of the Chilkoot River black. Williams said fisherman can fry, smoke, bake or dry eulachon, as well as render them to make oil.
Large pods of sea lions feasted on the fish this weekend, as well as otters, bald eagles and swarms of marine birds. Humpback whales were also spotted near the mouth of the river.