Tag Archives: too weak to open fishery

Copper River District: As stocks decline, veteran harvesters want more answers, better enforcement of regulations

The harvest for the three openers to date totaled an estimated 60,127 fish, including 5,259 Chinook, 52,752 sockeye and 2,116 chum. All this comes as little surprise to veteran fishermen like Bill Webber, now in his 54th year as a commercial harvester. Why the run of the oil rich Copper River sockeyes and Chinooks has been so troubled in recent years has prompted a lot of speculation. The situation has a lot of fishermen in the Cordova area pondering what possible role Northern Edge military exercises in the Gulf of Alaska, climate change and other fishermen upriver, particularly near spawning grounds, are playing. >click to read< 10:55