Pilot Study to Conduct a Freshwater Fish Inventory of Small Tundra Ponds on the Bristol Bay Coastal Plain, Alaska, 2006. Alaska Fisheries Data Series Number 2008-10

摘要

State-owned lands on the Bristol Bay coastal plain in southwest Alaska have been opened for oil and gas exploration. This area encompasses numerous small lakes and ponds on the Nushagak and Alaska peninsulas. To date, there have been few data collected describing the fish species or subsistence use of the small tundra ponds in the region. During 2006, a pilot project was completed to sample fish communities in selected small tundra ponds near King Salmon, Alaska. Nineteen ponds were surveyed during early summer, and fish were found in all ponds with depths greater than 0.9 m. Alaska blackfish Dallia pectoralis were the most abundant and widespread species encountered and were found in all but one pond where fish were present. Ninespine stickleback Pungitius pungitius were captured in five ponds and threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus were captured in four ponds. Northern pike Esox lucius, longnose sucker Catostomus catostomus, and pond smelt Hypomesus olidus were also encountered, but each species was only found in single ponds. Our sampling methods may not have been sufficient to capture all species present. The most productive sampling gears were multifilament experimental gillnets and baited minnow traps.