Salmon symposium draws crowd to Wasilla

Over 100 agency personnel, researchers and fish enthusiasts gathered in Wasilla this week for the second annual Salmon Symposium.Paul Blanche of The Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association presented his information collected this summer on work done at Larson Lake and Fish Lake.  He questioned whether or not the system is producing juvenile salmon that succeed in migrating to the sea and whether or not a sufficient number of adult fish are failing to reach spawning grounds.   Some of his monitoring efforts in Larson, Chelatna, Judd and Shell Lakes suggest that production may have declined in shallower lakes possibly due to predation by pike.  Pike predation was raised as a serious problem in several other discussions in the two-day conference.Other than Blanche, no other researchers presented substantial or specific information on the lakes and streams north of Big Lake. Most researchers gave presentations which focused on areas on the Deshka River, Alexander Creek near the Yentna and the Matanuska River drainages as well as culvert restoration in the Wasilla area.The event was geared more toward research and science than to the residents that fish the streams and rivers of the Mat Su Valley.  By reactions of some attendees, though, this year’s event was better planned, better attended and more in depth than last year’s event. Topics ranged from fish passage restoration to water quality to current sockeye salmon production in the Mat Su. Presenters ranged from biologists from the Department of Fish and Game to those in charge of salmon stream restoration to stream temperature monitoring.The Symposium was planned by the Mat Su Salmon Partnership. Event coordinator, Corrine Smith, with the Nature Conservancy, mentioned that a future conference could outreach to include fishing guides and others interested in water quality and salmon production.