Tag Archives: Copper River District
Statewide commercial salmon harvest tops 14M fish
Millions of wild salmon heading for their spawning grounds in Alaska are being greeted by commercial fishermen with drift gillnets and setnets, harvesting upwards of 14 million fish through Tuesday morning, including over four million in Prince William Sound. For the Copper River District itself over 601,000 salmon were delivered to processors and the state’s central region had an overall catch of over 11.6 million fish. Preliminary data compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game put the catch through Tuesday at over 14 million fish harvested statewide, including 10.3 million sockeyes, 3.3 million chums, 331,000 pink, 46,000 Chinook, and 6,000 coho salmon. >click to read< 10:54
Prince William Sound harvests exceed 69M salmon
Late season harvesters were still pulling in coho salmon in in mid-September, with the preliminary Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s estimated harvest rising to 224,000 silvers, up from 199,000 a week ago. The Copper River district has been the biggest contributor to the coho catch to date, with 132,462 fish caught in drift gillnets, followed by 33,607 fish brought in Eastern Prince William Sound purse seiners and 16,436 fish from Prince William Sound Southwestern purse seiners, according to ADF&G updates. The average weight of Copper River,,, >click to read< 07:48
Humpy surge boosts Prince William Sound harvest to 54.3M
For Prince William Sound alone the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s preliminary harvest report as of Wednesday, Aug. 18, stood at 50.4 million humpies, up from 31.9 million humpies just a week earlier, when the overall PWS commercial harvest totaled 39.8 million fish. Deliveries to PWS processors also reached a cumulative total of 2.6 million chums, 1.3 million sockeyes, 39,000 cohos and 7,000 Chinook salmon.,, In the PWS seine fisheries the egg take underway at the Valdez Fisheries Development Association was 38% complete as of Aug. 17. The Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp. reported good run entry at Wally Noerenberg Hatchery and minimal run entry at the Armin F. Koernig and Cannery Creek hatcheries. Future fishing opportunities targeting PWSAC enhanced pink salmon would be contingent on run entry and broodstock acquisition, biologists said. >click to read< 11:22
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
To the editor: Thank you, fish processors
The 2020 commercial fishing season will go down in the history books. In March and April, the prospect of executing statewide fisheries was in question amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and even communities that rely upon fisheries as their economic drivers were pressing for partial or complete closures. Cordova and the opening of the Copper River District were in the spotlight as the first Alaskan salmon fishery to come on line for the summer salmon season. by Dennis Zadra >click to read< 19:44
Prince William Sound coho, chum, sockeye harvests still rising
Even as the 2020 season is winding down, the catch of coho, chum and sockeye salmon is rising in Prince William Sound. Preliminary statewide harvest numbers compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game showed that as of Wednesday, Sept. 2, the commercial catch for Prince William Sound had reached 24.3 million salmon, including some 21.3 pink, 1.9 million chum, 937,000 sockeye, 130,000 coho and 4,000 Chinook. The latest figures showed a boost of 95,000 humpies, 30,000 coho and 1,000 sockeyes since ADF&G’s Sept. 1 preliminary report. The Copper River District meanwhile was open for a 24-hour commercial fishing period on Thursday, Sept. 3. >click to read< 19:12
Salmon set to return, Poor Kenai king returns will restrict start of Cook Inlet, Copper River counts keep commercial fishing closed
The start of the massive Bristol Bay commercial sockeye fishery is fast approaching but this year is bringing with it a level of uncertainly rivaled by few others even in the volatile fishing industry. Fishery participants and observers generally expect a softer market and lower prices for Bristol Bay sockeye 
due to several factors, >click to read<. Poor Kenai king returns will restrict start of Cook Inlet fishery – That means the fishing time for East Side Cook Inlet setnetters will be no more than 36 hours per week, as long as the sport gear and harvest restrictions remain in place, per the Board of Fisheries paired restrictions plan for the sport and commercial fisheries that are often in conflict. >click to read<. Copper River counts keep commercial fishing closed – There seems to be a decent chance commercial fishing in 
the Copper River District could resume soon despite a dismal start to the famed early season salmon fishery. >click to read< 16:26
It aint looking good – Low prices, weak run hammer Copper River fishermen
Fishermen headed into the 2020 season knew it would be different, but in the weeks since the Copper River District opened on March 14, low prices and a weak run has dealt a one-two punch to fishermen. “The 2020 gillnet season for the Copper River and Prince William Sound is definitely the worst one I’ve experienced so far,” Mike Mickelson, a Cordova based fisherman, said. “The managers just have us closed for the Copper River fishery because they’re worried about getting escapement, >click to read< 10:33
SILVER CATCH – Coho catch lifts Prince William Sound salmon harvest total
Commercial fishermen in Prince William Sound caught another 142,000 silver salmon over the seven-day period ended Sept. 15, lifting the preliminary season catch of coho to 549,000 fish. The surge in silver salmon harvests,, Read the rest here 12:24
“simply the best fish in the world.” Royalty. Copper River salmon shall arrive in Seattle on Friday
The 
will open for the season Thursday morning and the first fish is expected to arrive at Sea-Tac at 6 a.m. Friday. But the demand will be high because of the short open fishing period. The open window for the Copper River District is only 12 hours on Thursday, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Gave Division of Commercial Fisheries Read more here 18:06
