Chilkoot River - Aqua Fauna

Aqua Fauna

The aqua fauna found in abundance in the Chilkoot River, as one approaches along the Lynn Canal and the outlet stream from the Chilkoot Lake, are Bald eagles, harbor seals, bears feeding on salmon and mountain goats on the hill slopes. The aqua fauna found in the Chilkoot River moves down from the Chilkoot Lake. These are mostly Sockeye Salmon or red salmon found in profusion. According to the studies carried out by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 25% spawn of sockeye is from the sensitive habitat of the upper watershed in the upper reaches of the river, above the Chilkoot Lake. These studies also indicated that anadromous fish, coho, Dolly Varden, and an occasional chum salmon were found above the Chilkoot Lake in the spawning and rearing grounds.

Bald Eagles are seen on trees, on rocks and in flight, which are a popular sight during May through September. Apart from the bald eagles, Brown Bears are seen feeding in the river on salmons, mostly in spring and early summer. A plaque displayed on the right bank of the Chilkoot River, near the Deer Rock monument, reads 'Salmon Forest'. The importance of the ecosystem has been briefly explained in this plaque highlighting the role of salmons in the food chain of eagles, bears, gulls, crows, ravens, other mammals and birds that carry it to the forests, which in turn enhance the forest and promote plant growth.

Fishing tools and tackles

The aqua fauna found in the Chilkoot River are caught by the Tlingit Alaskan tribes by using long-handled scoop nets known as go qtc (gukwC), which is 18 inches (46 cm) wide at the mouth and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep. Fireweed fiber, also called nettle or sinew, is wound round this device and the mesh is formed by tying it with mesh sticks with a double strand cord. A pole with two extended arms is used to hang the net, and as hung, it forms a quadrangular shape. The net is then immersed right up to the bed of the river from the bow end of the canoe (when its broadside drifts along the flow). The net is then drawn up swiftly against the current and with a quick turn of the wrist the contents are tipped into the boat. Semi conical baskets made of spruce rods are used in the fishing weirs built across the river to capture eulachon.

Another method adopted by the Chilkoot Tlingit for capturing salmon in the rocky shallows of the Chilkoot River was by channelizing the stream by constructing walls made of rock parallel to the river. At the upstream head of these short channels (less than 20 feet (6.1 m)) they erected a small wooden platform. A single man would then stand on the platform and using a gaft hook capture the salmon fish that traveled up the artificial channel. However, in recent years modern tools of hook and rod have been widely adopted.

Fishing weir

The fish species that are found in the Chilkoot River below the lake outlet are generally the sockeye salmon and Oncorhynchus nerka. In order to enumerate the salmon that pass down the river, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries established a weir on the river, in 1976, a few hundred yards downstream from the outlet of the river from the lake, to carry out visual count of “the total sockeye escapement (postseason).” A report for the period 1996-2003 gives the counts done at the weir and also quantity estimates of the sockeye fishes.