Tag Archives: Southeast trollers
Alaska Trollers Association takes a swing at Fish and Game and Alaska sport fishery over shortened season
Commercial trolling for Southeast king salmon closed for the season in July and will not reopen this month. That marks the second summer in a row their season has ended before they could catch all of their yearly king allocation under an international agreement. Now, the trade group representing them — the Alaska Trollers Association — is outraged. Southeast trollers have around 15,000 kings left in their annual allocation. That’s the number of kings trollers get to catch under an agreement between the United States and Canada known as the Pacific Salmon Treaty. The trollers caught most of their allocation — 83%, or 82,000 fish — during the first and longest opener in July. Typically, the rest of the allocation would be caught in a mid-August opening. But that second opening won’t be happening. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:02
Fish plentiful, but fishermen scarce for Southeast Alaska’s first summer king opening
The numbers are in for the first opening in the summer troll fishery for king salmon in Southeast Alaska. The 12-day season saw more chinook landed than expected, despite fewer boats being on the water. Southeast trollers brought in about 85,000 king salmon from July 1 to July 12, around 8,000 fish over the target for the first opener of the season. At first, it might look like enthusiasm played a role, as it was only on June 21 that the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay that allowed the fishery to occur at all. But that was not the case. Grant Hagerman manages the troll fishery for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He says even fewer trollers participated this summer than in 2022. >click to read< 10:37
Summer season was the perfect storm for some Southeast trollers
“We had small fish, poor price, bad weather, and also no fish or very few fish,” said Matthew Donohoe, a fishermen from Sitka. He has been fishing for nearly 40 years and said it’s been the strangest Coho season he’s ever seen. “That all added up to quite a whammy for the troll fleet.” Dale Kelley is the Executive Director of the Alaska Trollers Association. She said this is the year that she has dreaded. “This is the year where our King salmon quota is too low, and Coho are coming in about average with a poor price and that is about, it’s one of the worst scenarios,,, Read the rest here 16:44
