Salmon Counting · Episode 1 of 8 · 45 min
Escapement: How Counting Salmon Runs Alaska's Fisheries
A single number, escapement, the count of salmon that escape the nets to spawn, governs a multi-million-dollar fishery and the families who live on it. The opener goes back to Bristol Bay's 1955 counting towers: technicians on wooden scaffolds over the Wood River with hand-clickers, ten-minute counts and round-the-clock shifts. It begins on the human end of the count, a summer on the Naknek cannery line at the Fourth-of-July peak.
Who's who
- Charles WalkerDemonstrated in 1951 that sockeye could be counted from a riverbank
- W. F. ThompsonProposed tower counting as an escapement technique in 1953
Where it happens
- Bristol Bay, Alaska+7 more episodesWorld's largest sockeye salmon fishery
- Wood River, AlaskaSite of the early counting towers
- Naknek, AlaskaCannery town on Bristol Bay
- Lake Aleknagik, Alaska+2 more episodesOutlet where counting from a bank was demonstrated
Timeline
- 1951Walker shows sockeye can be counted from a high bank at Lake Aleknagik's outlet.
- 1953Thompson formally proposes tower counting and runs a pilot.
- 1955Modern counting-tower operations are established in Bristol Bay.
- 1957Early comparison finds tower counts close to weir counts.
- 2013State operational plan codifies a seven-tower program.
Still debated
Reports say counts have been made at nine tower sites since 1955, while a 2013 plan describes seven, since Alagnak and Nuyakuk towers were cut for budget reasons; the roster changed over time.
