Wednesday October 22, 2025
The Cordova Times —
A new study of king salmon smolt aims to track their trail from fresh water to the ocean to better understand the troubles facing this prized Alaska fishery.
The project, which began this past summer, is a collaboration between the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). It is funded by a $4 million federal earmark through NOAA to research juvenile king salmon.
Resources for studying king salmon have been largely focused on adult fish. This one will concentrate on those in the smolt stage, a relatively understudied period of development.
The project is happening amidst growing concern over the decline of king salmon populations statewide, including the famous Kenai River king salmon runs.
“The smolt period is a time when these king salmon are going through physiological changes and it’s also a dangerous stage,” said Andy Seitz, a CFOS professor and co-leader of the project. “They’re changing from freshwater to saltwater fish, and there are a lot of hungry mouths in the ocean.”
The researchers concluded the first season of this project by implanting acoustic tags in 289 Kenai River king salmon smolt.
The tiny devices, about the size of a Tic Tac mint, were implanted by making a micro-incision in the bottom of the fish’s abdomen. Each tag has a unique signal so researchers can identify individual fish with underwater hydrophones as they travel from the Kenai River to Cook Inlet.
This acoustic technology has never been used in juvenile salmon studies in Alaska before, and researchers spent the first summer adapting it to the rugged environment of the Kenai River. CFOS students working on the tagging project include Johanna Elkins, Dakota Rygh and Daniel Tryon. Elkins and Tryon are also ADF&G employees.
Tony Eskelin, a fisheries biologist with ADF&G in Soldotna, is leading the project for ADF&G. He said a better understanding of the survival challenges faced by young salmon could ultimately impact how they are managed in Alaska rivers.