Fishing is hectic in Bristol Bay; statewide, sockeye is down 12 percent

At the July 4 peak of the Bristol Bay sockeye season there were 674 boats fishing in the Nushagak region compared with 389 in 2017; 308 in 2016; 325 in 2015 and 335 in 2014. Fishing is so hectic that ice deliveries to fishermen, which are important to maintain quality, were cut sharply. Most boats fishing in Bristol Bay are equipped with refrigerated water systems but 10 percent rely on ice, with 27 percent delivering fish unchilled. Last year processors paid a 25-cent-per-pound premium for chilled fish.

As of July 24, excluding Bristol Bay, the statewide sockeye harvest is down by 12 percent compared with harvests at the same time in 2016. Some areas are hard hit, like Cordova and Chignik, but the heavy Bristol Bay run brings up the total. Twelve percent down from 2016 (a record year for sockeye) really isn’t that bad. However, because of slow pink, chum and coho fishing the total salmon catch-to-date is one-third down from this time in 2016 but equal to 2015. Chum catches are 42 percent down from this time last year and coho is down 50 percent. Pink salmon catches are down by one third. Most of the declines in coho and pinks are in Southeast. In Norton Sound and the Kotzebue area the chum fishing has been excellent, although these are small fisheries. Chignik has been hit very hard by the sharp downturn in sockeye and its tribes are seeking a disaster declaration. Commercial fishing has been closed all season and subsistence fishing has been cut back.  

 

For now, state fisheries board will allow hatchery expansion in Valdez

Alaska’s Board of Fisheries voted 4-3 to allow Valdez Fisheries Development Corp., a nonprofit hatchery operator, to expand pink salmon production at the Solomon Gulch hatchery in Valdez, which is opposed by influential sports fish groups. The opponents argue that increases in hatchery-born pink salmon, which are released to the ocean to mature, is competing for food supply with wild salmon stocks. They also cite a straying of hatchery pink salmon, some of which are now being found in Cook Inlet. Prince William Sound fishermen and the city of Cordova support the expansion because the hatcheries stabilize big swings in wild salmon runs and support local harvesting. The fisheries board will revisit the issue at a meeting this fall.