Kenai River (Late-Run Sockeye) Sockeye Fish Count

The Kenai River late-run sockeye salmon sonar project is located approximately 19 miles upstream from the mouth of the Kenai River. The estimated travel time for sockeye salmon to reach this site once they have entered the Kenai River can be quite variable, ranging from approximately 24 hours to 72 hours.

Beginning in 2011, ADF&G will be counting escapement at Kenai River mile 19 using DIDSON rather than the old Bendix sonar. Due to the change in sonar technology, the sustainable escapement goal for Kenai River late-run sockeye salmon was changed to 700,000 – 1,200,000 fish counted using DIDSON sonar. To provide for comparison of counts among years, all historical escapement counts in this database have been converted from Bendix to DIDSON-equivalent units. Due to these changes, historical escapement counts are about 1.4 times higher than those previously reported.