Tag Archives: pink salmon fishery
Humpy catch ends, coho opener wait for rain
“We still haven’t gotten a lot of rain, so we’re tracking behind in escapement and the (coho) commercial harvest is below anticipated,” said Jeremy Botz, gillnet area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Cordova. “We had been fishing once a week and now we have been closed for more than a week.” The last opener for coho salmon was Sept. 2. >click to read< 12:59
Prince William Sound Pink salmon fishery back in business
Pink salmon commercial harvests are still below forecasts, but even with no prospect of rain predicted so far until Aug. 22, the catch in Prince William Sound rose from 17.6 million to 22.2 million within the past week. Preliminary harvest figures posted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game showed that 22,904,000 pinks comprised the bulk of the overall Prince William Sound harvest as of Aug. 14. The rest of the overall catch to date of 30.5 million fish in the Sound’s commercial harvest includes 5,026,000 chum, 2,526,000 sockeyes, 18,000 Chinook and 15,000 coho salmon. >click to read< 13:13
With My Brother, in Pursuit of Pink Salmon
The weather’s riled up today, blowing wind and web in my face as I stack the corkline that floats our seine net. The afternoon wind tosses our net around as waves spray saltwater over the boat rails and across the deck. We wrangle the bag of fish alongside and with a combination of manual strength and hydraulic power, pour the splashing pink salmon into the fish hold full of chilled sea water. This week feels like summer storming its way into fall, with beautiful days feeling almost tropical backed right up to days of sideways rain and gusty squalls. Nelly Hand is a commercial salmon fisherman from Cordova, Alaska. click here to read the story and more photo’s 20:11
Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak calls for Pink Salmon Fishery Disaster Declaration
Two measures of relief for Alaska’s pink salmon industry, reeling from the lowest harvest since the late 1970s, are being sought. Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, last week asked the Walker administration to declare the pink salmon season a disaster, which would open up access to federal relief funds. Pinks are Alaska’s highest volume salmon fishery, though the price tends to be the lowest. Hundreds of fishermen depend on pinks to boost their overall catches and paychecks. So far, the statewide harvest is just 36 million humpies, far less than a preseason forecast of 90 million. Last summer, 190 million pinks were caught. For pinks, every other year is typically a strong year, with a weak year in between. “This is the worst salmon year in nearly 40 years, and that’s huge,” she said. “It doesn’t just affect the fishermen — it’s a trickle-down effect on the cannery workers, the processors and nearly all businesses in the community. It’s a disaster, there’s no other way to describe it.” Read the rest here 17:17
Controversial commercial fishery on Howe Sound shut down
A commercial fishery on Howe Sound was shut down by the federal government last week after it was discovered there wasn’t “the abundance of fish” originally expected — despite prior warnings from local anglers of low pink salmon numbers. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) announced the pink salmon fishery for Aug. 10 to 15, limiting it to two seine vessels between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily. It was shut down Wednesday, Aug. 12. “The DFO was not yet seeing the abundance of fish that were anticipated for that time, therefore it was prudent,,, Read the rest here 20:16
