August 21st-Return Update

Fall chum returns to Sitka Sound and the Deep Inlet THA have remained strong since reopening the THA this past Saturday. In the past two weeks over a million fall chum have been harvested between the Sitka Sound common property troll/seine fisheries and the Deep Inlet openings. This week the total Deep Inlet chum return surpassed our preseason forecast of 1.7 million and is currently at 1.8 million. This week the total return will likely surpass 500,000 harvested for the second week in a row. To date trollers have harvested over 400,000 fish with the seine fleet having a seasons harvest of just over 1 million. While current weekly return numbers are strong we have seen recent sex ratios fall below  50% male indicating we are now on the backside of the return and harvest will begin to decline.

Although we have seen very strong chum returns the past few weeks their has been tremendous interception of chum bound for Medvejie Hatchery impacting brood stock recruitment. Current estimates indicate there are 40,000 fall chum in Bear Cove of the 90,000 needed. The common property seine pink fishery lines for this Saturday/Sunday harvest have been modified and do not include Eastern Channel which will help to improve chum brood passage to the hatchery. Additionally the return of  rain to the area should help to move fish towards the hatchery. We will continue to monitor brood numbers in Bear Cove and Sitka Sound/Deep Inlet harvest trends over the next week and if there is minimal increase in brood stock numbers in Bear Cove a Deep Inlet THA closure or time/area restrictions may be necessary.

Similar to Deep Inlet, the fall chum return to Crawfish Inlet has already exceeded our preseason forecast of 281,000 with a total of 376,000 harvested. During common property openings the troll fleet have harvested over 46,000 with the seine fleet harvesting 282,000. The majority of the troll harvest and all of the seine harvest has occurred in West Crawfish. We have seen a significant improvement in cost recovery success the past few days in Crawfish Inlet and have now harvested 48,000. Reminder the entire chum return to the Crawfish Inlet SHA will be taken for cost recovery and no common property seine or troll fishery is planned in Crawfish Inlet this season.