About the data

Salmon Finder does not count fish. The State of Alaska does. This page explains where every number in the app comes from, and what we do and do not do to it.

Where the counts come from

Every count in Salmon Finder is published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. ADF&G operates the weirs, sonar sites and counting towers, decides what gets counted and when, and publishes the daily escapement figures. We mirror what they publish.

Salmon Finder is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or speaking for ADF&G. If a number looks wrong, the source of truth is theirs, not ours.

How the fish are counted

Counting method varies by station, and it matters for how you read a number:

Weirs are a physical fence across the stream with a gap that fish pass through single file, watched by a technician. Precise, but they can wash out in high water.
Sonar images fish passing a fixed point in larger, siltier rivers where you cannot see the bottom. Good for volume, less precise about species.
Counting towers put an observer on an elevated platform counting fish through a viewing window over sampled intervals.

Each station in the app shows its method, because a sonar number and a weir number are not the same kind of measurement.

When the numbers update

ADF&G updates on their own schedule, and that schedule is not uniform across the state. Some stations post daily during the run, some post several times a week, and some go quiet mid-season when a project ends or equipment fails.

Salmon Finder checks for new data continuously and sends you a push notification when a station you follow posts a new count. That is the whole point of the app: you find out when it changes, without checking.

Counts also get revised after publication. When ADF&G corrects a figure, we update to match.

What we do to them

Very little, deliberately. We do not adjust, smooth, model, or forecast the counts. A number in the app is the number the state published.

What we add is context: the current season plotted against previous seasons at the same station, so you can see whether a run is early, late, or already over. That comparison is arithmetic on published figures, not a prediction.

What the website shows

This website deliberately shows no current counts at all.

The coverage map shows where the state counts and what each station counts. The sample creek page is one station, one species, one finished season, frozen and labelled as such.

That is not an oversight. Live counts belong in the app, where they come with notifications, every species at a station, and the full history behind them. A web page that shows today’s number is a page you bookmark instead of a tool that tells you when something changes.

Don’t bet your safety on it

The data is provided as-is, with no warranty of accuracy, completeness or availability. Weirs fail, sonar goes offline, servers go down, and a station can stop reporting mid-season. Do not use Salmon Finder to make decisions about water crossings, tides, bear country, weather or anything else where being wrong has consequences.

Fishing regulations

A high count does not mean a water is open, and nothing in the app is legal advice. Openings, closures, emergency orders, bag limits and gear restrictions change fast and come from ADF&G alone. Check the current regulations before you fish. That is on you, every time.

Full terms are on the terms of use page.