The 1288 km (800 mi) Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), including the 284 associated access roads, crosses 800 rivers and streams between Prudhoe Bay and Valdez, Alaska. These waters are known to support 5 species of anadromous Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus and 25 other anadromous and resident fish species. Fish distribution in freshwaters along TAPS has been the subject of many field investigations since the construction planning phase in the early and mid-1970s. Alyeska assembled lists of specific streams where additional field assessment of fish use and potential fish habitat conditions was needed and contracted the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to conduct field investigations of these waterbodies in summer of 2002. At these stations, information on aquatic habitat characteristics and fish presence was acquired. Fish were collected with backpack electrofishers, minnow traps, seines, or were visually observed. A total of 662 fish were captured at 42 of 181 stations (174 individual waterbodies); 10 fish species (6 Salmonidae, 1 Catostomidae, 1 Cottidae, 1, Gadidae, 1 Gasterosteidae) were observed in our sampling.
Key words: Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, fish habitat surveys, chinook salmon, coho salmon, chum salmon, pink salmon, Arctic grayling, slimy sculpin, Dolly Varden, longnose sucker, ninespine stickleback, burbot.
Gnath, D.G., D.W. Lieb, M.Wiemer, 2002. Trans-Alaska Pipeline System 2002 Fish Habitat Survey, Technical Report No.02-07. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Habitat and Restoration Division, Anchorage. 755pp.
