Salmon fry surprise EIS crew

July 15, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

KNIK ARM -- The environmental impact statement studies for a proposed Knik Arm bridge will wrap up this summer with at least one surprising find -- the salmon fry that usually hug the shoreline in most bodies of sea water were discovered mid-channel in Knik Arm, according to Darryl Jordan, Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority deputy executive director,

"They get flushed out with the tides," Jordan said during a media-attended skiff ride across Knik Arm from the Port of Anchorage small boat launch Tuesday.

Jordan boosts both a future and a historical connection with the Arm that spans the Valley and Anchorage. An Athabaskan, Jordan hails from the Glennallen Copper Center tribe. His mother fished a site at Possession Point, just southwest of Fire Island.

The future hopes of a bridge between the Mat-Su Borough and the Municipality of Anchorage hinge on approval of a environmental impact statement, studies that have been conducted for the past two summers.

A beluga whale-watching effort associated with the EIS studies involved people positioned on the bluffs near the place where a proposed bridge would connect the two communities. That study ends this month.

According to boat-operator and business owner Dave Mallars, belugas were spotted about two weeks ago and he only got close enough to see them through binoculars.

About 35 employees from LGL Research have been involved in the whale observation. For each sighting, they record what size of pod passes, the number of juveniles, what direction the whales are headed and how long they stay in the area.

Studies show the whales pass through the Arm chasing fish that swim up Fish Creek on the Mat-Su side or into Eagle Bay. Fortunately for the project, those belugas are not mating or involved in other activities that would cause them to spend long periods of time in the Arm, Jordan said.

This is the same information Port MacKenzie Port Director Marc Van Dongen discovered during studies of Knik Arm prior to building a deep-draft dock last year.

Boat operator Mallars owns Alaska Divers and Underwater Salvage, and in the past has contracted his time to the Corps of Engineers.

"This is the first time I have been involved in an EIS of this scale," he said.

He owns the boat that provides tours of the proposed project area as well as the skiff that is part of the EIS effort. One of his employees operates the skiff.

Out in the sun and fresh sea air, the task of collecting sea-life samples seems like a dream job.

Once a week, the research crew throws into the inlet a net that collects sea creatures three times during the ebb tide and three times during the flow tide. Each net sits in the water for five minutes, Mallars said. The group takes samples from 11 sites.

What kind of sea creatures have shown up for people involved in the studies?

So far, Crangon shrimp, Mysid shrimp, juvenile coho and chinook, cod and stickleback have been caught in the nets, Jordan said.

The field studies of the fish also end in July, but bird observation will continue through September. That way, migratory birds can be counted, he said.

In September, KABATA will do an in-house review of the compiled studies.