ADF&G Frazer Fishpath Opens 5,000
Acre Red Salmon Rearing Grounds
Completion of the Frazer Fish
way on Kodiak Island has made ac
cessible to salmon one of the great
est potential red salmon producing
areas in Western Alaska, according
to an announcement by Walter
Kirkness, Commissioner of the
Alaska Department of Fish and
Game.
The fishway, constructed around
the 33-foot Frazer Falls, opens up
a 5,000-acre rearing area in the
72 square mile Frazer Lake water
shed. The falls had been an im
passable barrier for salmon to the
large fallow basin.
Biologists of the Department es
timate that the once-barren waters
could produce as many as three
million red salmon a year if all op
timum conditions were met. It is
expected, however, that the aver
age yearly production will fall
somewhat under this figure even
after a population of optimum num
bers of spawning salmon have been
built up. This will probably take a
period of years.
The structural phases of the fish
laddering project was completed
by the Arndt Bros., contractors of
Homer, on July 26 and accepted by
the State of Alaska on July 31.
The portable aluminum steep
pass used on the project was devel
oped by Gil Ziemer, Director of
Engineering for the Alaska Depart
ment. It was the first practical ap
plication of the adaptation of a
lightweight shop pre-fabricated
fishway that could be flown out to
a remote area and bolted together
on the spot.
Department biologists have
stocked Frazer Lake since 1951,
12 years prior to the construction,
by various methods including eggs
and spawning adult salmon. To
date, the transportation of adult
fish from Red River Lake has
proven the least expensive and
most feasible method. The adult
fish which returned to Frazer this
year were the result of plants of
eyed-eggs obtained from Karluk
Lake five years ago.
The purpose of the egg plants
was twofold: (a) to determine
whether Frazer Lake could raise
red salmon satisfactorily; and (b)
to build up a brood stock that
would be established by the' time
money was available for laddering
the falls. The topographic survey
to select the best route for ladder
ing the falls was made by Ziemer
in July 1957.
Two steeppass fishways desig
nated as A and C were installed
side by side so that a comparison
could be made of their overall per
formance. The A type with vertical
baffles was first developed by Zie
mer in 1957. It produces a cascad
ing tumbling type of water action
somewhat slower than C’s which
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produces a streaming type flow
over baffles that have a 30 per
cent slope.
Even without the completion of
the effective leads to guide the
salmon into the ladder, which are
scheduled for completion next
spring, the fishpass was ascended
by 2.500 red salmon and 3,000 pink
salmon into Frazer Lake during
1963. Of the red salmon, 65 per
cent preferred the A and 35 per
cent the C. Sixty eight per cent
of the pinks used the C and 35 per
cent the A.
The original concept for a steep
pass of this type was devleoped in
Europe, Ziemer said. It never
caught on in the United States be
cause many early experimenter
failed to fully comprehend its basic
operating principles. Ziemer feels
that it is with blocks of up to 10
feet of head that the steeppass
fishway will have its greatest appli
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cation and that the 33 feet lift in
four steps at Frazer Falls approach
es its upper limits of economic use
fulness.
Ziemer does not intend the steep
pass to be a substitute for more
conventional fish ladders such as
those employed on the Columbia
River. It was developed by the De
partment as an effective solution
for installation at the host of low
control barriers in wilderness areas
where conventional construction
would be difficult and expensive.
Such projects are in line with the
Sbate’3 program of enhancing our
fisheries resources by improving
and extending the habitat for our
salmon thus providing more fish
for the future, Commissioner
Walter Kirkness stated.
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