MCLEES LAKE

Qawalangin Tribe President Harriet Berikoff said it was a tough year for subsistence fishing in Unalaska. Rough boating weather and low salmon numbers meant most families weren't able to fill their freezers. Last week, September 7th, the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska donated $22,000 worth of sockeye salmon to its tribal members.

In a historically late push, almost 3,000 sockeye salmon came through the weir at McLees Lake on Sunday. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says the salmon run in Unalaska is now at a sustainable level and fishing restrictions have been lifted.

New data from drone surveys flown over Unalaska’s three road-system lakes last summer show low sockeye salmon counts. The counts total less than half of what they were in summer of 2020, according to data released in April by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. But Fish and Game biologist Tyler Lawson said the one-year drop isn’t too concerning. Escapement numbers often fluctuate and there’s more room for error in aerial surveys, he said. “We call them a ‘high error survey,’ which kind of sounds bad, but it's just because in comparison to the weir — which is a very precise tool — there's variability whenever you're up in the air, looking down and trying to count salmon,” he said. While the technology is still relatively new when it comes to counting salmon in Unalaska, Lawson said he’s hopeful that drones will play a key role in helping assess broader trends among salmon stocks in the region.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been collecting data on the salmon runs at McLees Lake at Cape Wislow for nearly two decades.While Fish and…

This summer, Unalaska collected information on the sockeye salmon run for McLees Lake at Cape Wislow. The data is used to gauge the strength of the run…

Unalaska fishermen cannot take salmon at McLees Lake within 500 yards of the river mouth.The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued that reminder…

For the first time in 18 years, Unalaska won't collect detailed data on the salmon run at McLees Lake this summer.The Alaska Department of Fish and Game…

With grant money drying up, the state wants Unalaska to help fund the salmon weir at McLees Lake.Scientists have used the weir to monitor sockeye for the…

Scientists have monitored the salmon run at McLees Lake for 17 years.But now, they’re in danger of losing the weir that helps them count sockeye at one of…