Saving Seafood

ALASKA: More than 70 million sockeye salmon expected in Bristol Bay next year, potentially busting this year’s record

December 8, 2021 — If the forecasts are close to accurate, this year’s Bristol Bay sockeye run won’t be a record for long.

Biology teams with University of Washington and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game both expect more than 70 million sockeye to return to Bristol Bay for the first time in recorded history.

Daniel Schindler, a biologist with UW’s Alaska Salmon Program, said multiple factors in the university’s record run forecast bolster its credibility. For one, all of the Bay’s nine large river systems are predicted to do very well, rather than just one or two forecasted to have outsized sockeye returns. The fact that the 2022 run will be on the heels of an inshore run of approximately 66.1 million sockeye — the all-time record — which provides researchers more to go on as well, according to Schindler.

Both the UW and Fish and Game forecasts are a weighted average of several models that use what are known as sibling relationships to formulate predictions, largely based on how many salmon of certain age classes returned in prior years.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

ALASKA: Board of Fisheries denies setnetters’ emergency petitions

August 4, 2021 — Kenai Peninsula setnetters are likely to remain closed for the rest of the season after the Board of Fisheries denied two emergency petitions seeking a partial reopening.

In an emergency meeting held Aug. 2, the Board of Fisheries voted 4-2 to deny a petition seeking a limited reopening of the East Side setnet fishery in Upper Cook Inlet. The petitioner, Chris Every, asked the board to reopen the East Side setnets within 600 feet of mean high tide, known as the 600-foot fishery.

“We believe by utilizing the 600-foot fishery we can reduce both the economic and biological impact while conserving chinook salmon, which is our ultimate goal with this 600-foot fishery,” he wrote in the petition.

The setnetters had a foreshortened and significantly restricted season because of low late-run king salmon returns to the Kenai River. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates that 6,420 large kings have passed the sonar on the Kenai River since July 1, significantly less than the lower end of the escapement goal of 15,000 large kings. In response, the department placed progressively stronger restrictions on the sportfishery, going from no bait to catch-and-release, and finally to a complete closure.

Because of the paired-restriction model the Board of Fisheries placed on the East Side setnetters, when the king salmon sportfishery is completely closed, they are too. Setnetters have not been in the water since July 20, and they have watched the peak weeks of the Kenai River sockeye run swim past. Aug. 2 saw the highest daily passage to date: 151,525 sockeye passed the sonar, according to ADFG.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

MATT ALWARD: Sustaining Alaska’s fisheries through nonprofit hatcheries

June 17, 2021 — You don’t need me to tell you that fishing is central to Alaskan life — as an economic driver, cultural touchstone, and recreational centerpiece. From commercial businesses to subsistence harvest to sport charters, fisheries have always played a significant role in the lives of Alaskans across the state, and we hope to continue that tradition for generations to come. Alaska’s fish stocks are a renewable resource that can support sustained fisheries well into the future—but only if properly managed. Hatcheries are vital to ensuring long-term sustainable harvests for all user groups, in years of both abundance and low returns, in Alaska.

The United Fishermen of Alaska strongly opposes fish farming — but hatcheries are not fish farms. In Alaska’s hatcheries, fish eggs are fertilized, reared to grow into juveniles, and then released as fry to the ocean to grow into adulthood. Most fundamentally, hatcheries serve to improve egg-to-juvenile survival. In nature, egg-to-fry survival rates among fish average less than 10%; in hatcheries, that rate is over 90%. With a mission to supplement wild stocks, most critically during years of low returns, hatcheries have allowed Alaska’s fish populations to thrive without reducing harvest opportunities for the user groups that rely on salmon. The development of Alaska’s hatchery program in the 1970s coincided with an incredible rebound of wild salmon populations across the state. It has led to some of the highest harvests in recorded history. As much of the world struggles to avoid overfishing, or depletion of natural fish populations, Alaska’s fish stock remains abundant, with three of the four highest wild stock returns in Alaska’s history occurring within the last ten years.

Nearly 50 years after establishing the hatchery associations, all commercial salmon fishermen in Southeast Alaska, Prince William Sound, Kodiak and Cook Inlet harvest hatchery-produced salmon as a part of their overall harvests. Beyond commercial fisheries, hatcheries contribute to salmon harvests for both sport fishing by residents and tourists, and personal and subsistence fishing. A recent 2020 report found that Alaska’s sport, personal use and subsistence fisheries roughly harvested hatchery salmon of 10,000 chinook, 5,000 chum, 100,000 coho, 19,000 pinks, and 138,000 sockeye between 2012-2016 annually. When it came to sport fishing alone, 17% of coho, 5% of sockeye, and 8% of chinook harvests were hatchery stock.

Read the full opinion piece at the Juneau Empire

ALASKA: Record-high Copper River prices boost market optimism ahead of the Bristol Bay fishery

June 14, 2021 — It’s been a tough spring for Copper River’s sockeye fishery.

Copper River is among the first fisheries to offer fresh salmon — its runs signal the start of the state’s commercial season. But the low number of sockeye returning this year has led to limited opportunities to fish.

The run is picking up, but until last week the season was similar to 2020, which finihsed with some of the lowest sockeye catches on record. But one thing is very different from last year: A record-high price for salmon.

“Markets were hot. And we were able to pay that price and pass it on to the fishermen,” said Jon Hickman, the executive vice president for Peter Pan Seafoods.

In May, the company announced that it would pay triple last year’s prices for sockeye and kings. This year, it will pay $19.60 per pound for kings and $12.60 a pound for sockeye. In 2020, sockeye went for around $4 and kings for $6.

The Cordova Times reported retailers’ pre-orders for sockeye fillets were as high as $54 a pound. King fillets went for up to $80 a pound.

Read the full story at KDLG

Alaska’s salmon harvest for 2021 is projected to be a big one

March 17, 2021 — Alaska’s salmon harvest for 2021 is projected to be a big one, with total catches producing a haul that could be 61% higher than last year, due mostly to an expected surge of pinks.

Fishery managers are predicting a statewide catch topping 190 million fish compared to 118.3 million in 2020. The breakdown by species includes 46.6 million sockeye salmon (a 203,000 increase), 3.8 million cohos (1.4 million higher), 15.3 million chums (6.7 million more), 296,000 Chinook (up by 4,000) and 124.2 million pink salmon (a 63.5 million increase).

In its report Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2021 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2020 Season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game provides breakdowns for all species by region.

Along with the projected 49% increase in pink salmon catches, Bristol Bay will again rule the day with sockeye runs to the region’s nine river systems expected to exceed 51 million fish and a harvest of 36.35 million reds, 13% higher than the 10 year average.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Biden voices opposition to Pebble Mine

August 11, 2020 — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said over the weekend that he would oppose the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, if he wins the November election.

In a prepared statement, the former vice president said he would uphold the Obama-era ruling that the proposed gold and copper mine would cause extensive damage to the Bristol Bay watershed and its prolific sockeye salmon run, the world’s largest.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye running strong as markets remain murky

July 14, 2020 — After a slow start to the season, Bristol Bay, Alaska – home to the world’s largest sockeye run –is seeing fish hit hard and fast, with a string of historically strong days spiking catch numbers and overloading processors.

The run lagged several days behind schedule, with slow fishing across all four major districts into July dragging down statewide salmon numbers. The season has also had a rocky start as preparations for the season were impacted by COVID-19, in some instances leading to calls for the season to be closed entirely in the first months of the pandemic’s arrival in the United States.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaska’s 2019 fisheries bring new records, continued concern

January 3, 2020 — Alaska’s fisheries in 2019 had several bright spots, yet many areas of concern will return into the next year.

Once again the sockeye fishery in Bristol Bay was the shining star of the commercial sector. Fishermen caught Bristol Bay’s 2 billionth sockeye salmon since records were first kept. The in-shore run of 57 million fish clocked in at the fourth-largest run on the record books, but the ex-vessel value of $306 million ranks as the best of all time.

“We had really good fisheries out in Bristol Bay,” ADF&G Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said. “In Southeast Alaska we were able to meet all our treaty obligations, provide commercial fishing opportunity and most importantly protect all our stocks of concern in Southeast Alaska.”

2019 brought a mixed bag for sport fishermen in Southcentral.

The early run sockeye on the Kenai and Russian River quickly surpassed escapement goals even with the ADF&G increasing bag limits and opening areas usually closed to fishing. At one point, anglers could keep nine daily and have 18 in possession.

“We’ve had other years where we went up to six and 12 daily, but we’ve never had it go up that high. We just had a tremendous return of sockeye, and we use that return to provide opportunities for Alaskans and visitors to our state,” Vincent-Lang said.

Even with additional limit increases for late-run Kenai River and Resurrection Bay sockeye, the 2019 season was tarnished by two major events.

The Swan Lake Fire loomed over of much of the Alaskan summer, and sportfishing didn’t escape the impacts. The Upper Kenai River was temporarily closed for public safety and firefighting efforts during a time period that is one of the most important of the year for trout fishing guides on the Peninsula.

Read the full story at KTUU

ALASKA: Dismal Copper River salmon run prompts ‘unprecedented’ shutdown of dipnetting at Chitina

June 14, 2018 — The state is taking the historic action of shutting down Copper River dipnetting at the popular, physically demanding sites around Chitina.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued an emergency order Wednesday closing the personal-use fishery until further notice as of Monday.

The state decision comes amid dismal returns of the river’s famed sockeye salmon, usually plentiful enough to fuel not only personal-use and subsistence fisheries but also commercial catches to supply markets and restaurants around the Lower 48.

Biologists blame the “Blob”: a large mass of unusually warm water that lurked in the Gulf of Alaska from 2014 through 2016 when young sockeye returning now swam out to feed.

For the commercial fishery at the Copper River’s mouth, this year’s sockeye catch is the second lowest it’s been in 50 years, after Fish and Game shut down that fishery in late May.

State fish biologists say otherwise there might not be enough sockeye swimming back up the Copper River to spawn and keep the run going strong.

Read the full story at Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Despite better early king numbers, Kenai fishermen head for sockeye

July 8, 2016 — Every square inch of shelf space is occupied in Ken’s Alaskan Tackle, and much of the walls, too.

Pegboards covered in different types of fishing flies, racks of lures and lines of hooks holding myriad different kinds of line greet the customers who drop in. Overhead hang reproductions of different Alaskan fish, the largest being a toothy king salmon that watches haughtily over the shop.

But most from the road recognize it for the enormous sockeye salmon that looms over the roof.

Though the Kenai River is famous worldwide for its king salmon, sockeye are increasingly becoming a target fish. Mary Glaves, an employee at Ken’s Alaskan Tackle, said most people who have come in this season are looking for sockeye, though the Kenai River is open for king salmon retention, albeit with no bait.

“Fishermen may just be out of the habit,” she said.

Part of it may be strategy. The Kenai River is wide and has had high water levels so far this season, making it difficult to bank fish for king salmon, which tend to run more toward the middle of the river. However, another part may be a set of years with weaker runs and more restrictions on Kenai River kings, some say.

For the past few years, poor counts on the early- and late-run kings have triggered management restrictions, either on bait or retention. This year, early signs show more late-run kings entering the river — 1,923 had passed the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s sonar at river mile 14, as of Monday — in addition to more than 9,800 early-run kings passing the sonar, according to Fish and Game’s data.

Though anglers could keep king salmon from the rivers after Fish and Game managers issued an emergency order June 18, participation has remained low. Catch rates have been low as well, possibly due to poor water conditions. Catch rates have been improving as the water clarity does.

Read the full story at the Peninsula Clarion