Brown Bear Kenai

[acorad]

Hank, did you see this article on the Kenai?

https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/we-alas ... ng-salmon/

Andy

[BrownBear]

Yeah I did. Weird enough, it's not just the Kenai. Same thing seems to be happening throughout the range of the kings. Lotta head scratching going on. Talking to the bios I trust and respect most, they're guessing ocean conditions more than any genetic change. The biggest fish in any run usually have and "extra" year of ocean growth tossed into the mix. There are genetic differences from one watershed to the next determining larger or smaller average size, but that doesn't explain the loss of those fish in each watershed getting that "extra" year of growth.

Don't recall which bio was showing me the data, but he made a very good case for there just being less food in the ocean and the kings simply aren't growing as large as before. He contends that as the number of hatchery reared fish has exploded all around the Pacific rim, there's just more fish taking mouthfuls. Other bios disagree. My guess is that they're a long ways from finding the for-sure cause, and even further from finding a solution.

[acorad]

Thanks BB, makes sense. Interesting about some fish getting an "extra year."

Andy

[BrownBear]

Yeah. They're a small part of the population and are usually serious pigs. That was the guess by the bios on Jan's 63# version, but we never popped a scale to check. Another landed by a bud the year before and just nudging 72# had that extra little ring on its scales.

[acorad]

"Serious pigs" is right!

Andy