Coho salmon Scientific Fishery in Taku River, British Columbia

Introduction

Coho salmon enumeration using mark-recapture has been conducted on the Taku River for nearly 30 years and provides a long term index of Coho abundance into the Taku River. Tags are applied to returning adult Coho salmon below the Canada-US border and are subsequently recovered in above border Canadian fisheries which are used to generate an abundance estimate. Additionally, juvenile Coho salmon are tagged (CWTs) annually in the spring and returning adult Coho are sampled to recover juvenile tags which are used to generate smolt abundance estimates and exploitation rates on Taku River Coho.

Objectives of the Requirement

The work involves the use of gill nets to capture migrating Coho salmon, recovering a statistically significant number of tags, and to conduct biological sampling of the catch (including tag/tag scar information) on the Taku River upstream of the Canada/US border, British Columbia. The work is to be performed during the annual Coho run, which occurs from approximately late august through to mid-October.

Contract Period

The Contract dates are as follows: Contract award through to May 31, 2016, with options to renew for 2 additional 1 year periods at the sole discretion of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

Project work to be competed between September and October of each year, Project Authority will confirm exact dates.

Option periods if exercised will be June 1, 2016 through to May 31, 2017 and June 1, 2017 through to May 31, 2018.