With Lisa Ka'aihue
It’s remarkable how a single streamside weir tucked away in the woods can help sustain salmon fisheries that support ecosystems, communities, and economies across the region.
That’s exactly what Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association’s Bear Creek Weir does. Working together with Trail Lakes Hatchery, this modest facility plays a vital role in enhancing sockeye and coho salmon populations that support sport and commercial fisheries throughout Resurrection Bay.
Each year, Bear Creek Weir helps monitor salmon populations, collect broodstock for the hatchery, and track millions of young salmon as they begin their journey to the ocean.
History of Bear Creek Weir
Did you know that the Bear Lake Weir predates Trail Lakes Hatchery by nearly 20 years? The weir has been in operation since 1963 for Bear Lake coho stocking, while the hatchery was built in 1982.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) initially ran the fisheries enhancement program at Bear Lake and Bear Creek Weir, focusing on coho salmon. In 1988, sockeye salmon fisheries enhancement was added for Bear Lake, at a larger scale than coho salmon.
In the late 1980s, Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association entered into a cooperative agreement with ADF&G, creating a public-private partnership to operate the weir and the hatchery.
With Trail Lakes Hatchery’s permitted capacity, we’re able to incubate the eggs staff collect at Bear Lake and Bear Creek and raise them to a juvenile stage for release back to Bear Lake or Bear Creek. This modern-day relationship between Trail Lakes Hatchery and Bear Creek Weir is integral to the sockeye and coho salmon returns to Bear Lake, and the broader fisheries opportunities in Resurrection Bay.
What happens at Bear Creek Weir?
Bear Creek Weir is located on the road system, just a few miles north of Seward, Alaska. There, you’ll find the small weir building.
On the upstream side of the building is a culvert that leads into a small holding box that staff use to count the salmon smolt leaving the lake, as well as counting and identifying other fish species. Staff release all the fish via a tube into the downstream side of Bear Creek to continue their journey to the ocean. On any given year, staff count millions of salmon smolt leaving the lake, starting in May and typically ending in July.
On the downstream side of the weir is another culvert that leads returning adult salmon into a fish box that staff lift with an electric winch. Staff then carefully take the salmon out of the box, identify and count them. About 12,000 sockeye salmon are released to the lake to be used as broodstock. Any excess fish to broodstock is harvested for cost recovery, allowing us to financially support the operation. In a single day staff might count up to 3,100 sockeye salmon returning. Adult sockeye salmon start showing up in June and the cohos follow later in the summer season, with weir activities winding down in October.
In addition to counting and identifying the smolt and adults, we also measure length and weight and collect otolith (ear bone) and scale samples from a representative group of salmon. This information helps us describe the overall population demographics of that group of fish, including whether the salmon was raised in a hatchery or not.
Bear Lake’s importance to fisheries
Toward the end of summer, Alaskans and tourists flock to the famous Seward Silver Salmon Derby. This event is made possible by coho hatchlings from ADF&G’s William Jack Hernandez Hatchery and Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association’s Trail Lake Hatchery. But silver salmon sportfishing isn’t the only show in town. We also provide the Seward area with late May’s Resurrection Bay sockeye runs. This popular fishery boosts the area’s early summer sockeye catches and lures snaggers from around the state.
The natural sockeye run in Resurrection Bay was minimal to salmon fisheries enhancement. The sockeye escapement into Bear Lake averaged just under 5,000 fish a year from the early 1960s to the mid-1980s.
An interesting and little-known fact is that this sockeye return during these years was boosted by a couple of years of much larger runs. These larger runs were a direct result of ADF&G treating Bear Lake with a pesticide called rotenone to kill off predator species for the enhancement of coho fisheries. These coho enhancement activities had an unintended positive effect on the sockeye runs.
Since we took over the enhancement activities at Trail Lakes Hatchery and Bear Creek Weir, CIAA has consistently provided valuable sockeye and coho fishing opportunities all users in Resurrection Bay.
Visiting Bear Lake Weir
Bear Creek Weir is one of the best places near Seward to watch salmon in action. During the peak of the adult salmon run, visitors can watch fish leap over the artificial falls and enter the weir. This can be done from the viewing site, just on the left-side of the weir as you are facing it.
If you visit, please help us keep the facility safe and operating smoothly:
- Park across or down the road. Parking is not permitted at the Bear Creek Weir site for the public. There is a pullout area across the street next to the creek. Bonus: you can often see salmon swimming through the culvert from this side.
- Please be patient with staff. Our crew enjoys talking about salmon, but their first priority is safely operating the weir. If they are busy, interpretive signs around the facility and our website provide additional information.
- Stay outside the fenced areas and building. For your safety and ours, please do not enter the weir building or restricted areas.
- Enjoy wildlife from a distance. You may see birds such as American dippers, river otters, and other wildlife during your visit. Please observe them and the fish without approaching.
- Visiting is free. There is no charge to visit Bear Creek Weir, and we do not accept donations.
