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Return Update-July 8th - NSRAA chum returns last week (stat week 27) seemed to flatline. There was minimal cost recovery completed in Deep Inlet and a moderate amount in SE Cove. The Hidden Falls chum weekly return last week took a slight dip to 50,000 from the previous stat week 26 return of 62,000. So far this week there […]
Return Update-June 25th - NSRAA chinook returns have been picking up the past several weeks with a total estimated harvest in Stat Week 25 of 1,341 adults. The spring chinook fisheries in the Sitka area have harvested over 2,000 Medvejie chinook making up 47% of the Sitka Sound area commercial troll harvest. Currently the return is looking like it […]
Gulf of Alaska Chinook Salmon do not warrant listing under Endangered Species Act - NOAA has concluded its 12-month scientific review to not list Chinook salmon in the Gulf of Alaska as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Action (ESA). PRESS RELEASE NMFS ESA Ruling
NSRAA Salmon Bake & Hatchery Tour - NSRAA will be offering hatchery tours and a BBQ lunch at Medvejie Hatchery on Saturday, June 27th. Lunch will consist of barbecued King Salmon, baked potato, green salad, rolls, watermelon and non-alcoholic drinks. Tickets are $15.00 per person- CASH ONLY and can be purchased during office hours at NSRAA- 1308 Sawmill Creek Road. (8-5 Mon-Fri) […]
Support Alaska Hatcheries at Board of Fisheries - Alaska Board of Fisheries Proposals. Your voice is needed. The board of fisheries will take up three hatchery proposals at the statewide meeting. Proposals 170, 171, and 172 seek to impose broad, preemptive reductions or moratoria on Alaska’s private nonprofit (PNP) salmon hatchery program without demonstrating a causal link between hatchery production and the specific […]Return Update-July 8th
NSRAA chum returns last week (stat week 27) seemed to flatline. There was minimal cost recovery completed in Deep Inlet and a moderate amount in SE Cove. The Hidden Falls chum weekly return last week took a slight dip to 50,000 from the previous stat week 26 return of 62,000. So far this week there seems to be an uptick in chum returns at Hidden Falls and SE Cove. Typically, stat week 28 and 29 are the peak weeks for summer chum stock returns.
Hidden Falls now has a cumulative chum return of 153,000 and is tracking slightly ahead of our preseason forecast of 409,000. This past Sunday, July 5th, Hidden Falls had the largest daily harvest of the season at 41,000 chum, 56% male ratio and will likely peak over the next week. Currently we estimate there are 30-40,000 chum brood stock inside Kasnyku Bay, our total brood stock need this year is 200,000. There have been additional area restrictions for Thursdays seine opening and area restrictions will remain in place until more brood stock has been secured. The closed area may expand or contract depending on how the return shapes up over the next two weeks.
Test fishing at Hawk Inlet, Point Gardner and Kingsmill are all tracking well below the recent 10-year average for chum harvest. We have found very few Hidden Falls or other NSRAA otolith marks in the samples and the majority are DIPAC bound chum salmon. The test fishing sample data can be found on our website at: NSRAA 2026 Test Fishing Data. Particularly concerning for the seine fleet is the near total absence of pink salmon in the test fisheries with total number of pinks to date one or less per set.
Cost Recovery at SE Cove began on June 29th with approximately 20,000 chum harvested. This week at SE Cove we have harvested over 20,000 chum and overall, the return is trending slightly above the 105,000 forecast. Deep Inlet cost recovery is ongoing with a total harvest in stat week 27 of 17,000 chum. This week we have harvested approximately 10,000 chum and will likely harvest a similar amount as we did last week. Reminder, Deep Inlet will remain closed to common property harvest until cost recovery is complete.
The Spring Troll fisheries completed for the season at the end of June and the NSRAA share was our largest contribution since 2015 of just over 4,000 chinook. Initial estimates have NSRAA chinook making up 65% of the Alaska Hatchery component in the Spring Troll fisheries. Currently there are reports of a very slow summer troll chinook opening and to date minimal chum salmon targeting or interception in the Summer Troll opening.
Return Update-June 25th
NSRAA chinook returns have been picking up the past several weeks with a total estimated harvest in Stat Week 25 of 1,341 adults. The spring chinook fisheries in the Sitka area have harvested over 2,000 Medvejie chinook making up 47% of the Sitka Sound area commercial troll harvest. Currently the return is looking like it will come in over our our pre-season forecast of 13,900 and is pointing toward a 20,000 total chinook return. This year a larger portion of the return are 3 ocean chinook, more than we have seen in the past 3 years with those making up over 60% of the return to date.
Since the beginning of June the Deep Inlet chum fisheries have harvested a little over 18,000 fish through stat week 26. The early summer run chum is tracking just below our forecast for this date. The total early summer chum run forecast is 376,000. We have seen an over 9lb average weight since the start of the fisheries with only our most recent seine sample on the 21st coming in below 9lbs. Interestingly we are seeing very large 4-year-old chum compared to the 5-year-olds with some samples having larger 4s than 5s. Five year olds have made up approximately 70% of the harvest to date with the remainder as 4-year-olds and most recent sample was 63% male. Reminder Deep Inlet will close to common property fishing at the end of the troll day this Saturday (June 27th) to begin cost recovery operations, which will begin on Monday June 29th. Deep Inlet will remain closed until our cost recovery goal is met.
Hidden Falls had its first opening this past Sunday with a harvest of 32,000 chum. This first opening was an encouraging harvest as we have a relatively small chum return forecast of 409,000. Similar to Deep Inlet we are seeing large fish at Hidden Falls, while not over 9lb like Deep Inlet, we did see a first opening average size of 8.7lbs. Surprisingly this large size was driven by the 4-year-old component coming in larger than the 5-year-olds. What is most confusing is that last year the 3-year-olds were some of if not the smallest on record for the site and this year based upon our first sample, the 4-year-old component from the same brood year is the largest 4-year-olds ever for Hidden Falls. First sample had a 60% 5-year-old component with the remaining 40% age four and 71% male. It will be interesting to see how this return progresses over the next few weeks.
The Point Agusta common property harvest from this past Sunday was sampled and no Hidden Falls otoliths were detected. The harvest was relatively small for the opening but was primarily DIPAC chum with a few Thomas Bay and SE Cove mixed in. NSRAA will be sampling the Friday Hawk Inlet and Saturday Point Gardner test fisheries and that information will be available early next week.
Cost Recovery at SE Cove will begin on June 29th. Our initial plan was to begin harvest on July 1st, but there are reports of chum beginning to build in the Special Harvest Area. A total chum return to SE Cove of 105,000 was forecast.
Gulf of Alaska Chinook Salmon do not warrant listing under Endangered Species Act
NOAA has concluded its 12-month scientific review to not list Chinook salmon in the Gulf of Alaska as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Action (ESA).
PRESS RELEASE
Salmon Hatcheries for Alaska Press ReleaseNMFS ESA Ruling
NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-AFSC-515NSRAA Salmon Bake & Hatchery Tour
NSRAA will be offering hatchery tours and a BBQ lunch at Medvejie Hatchery on Saturday, June 27th. Lunch will consist of barbecued King Salmon, baked potato, green salad, rolls, watermelon and non-alcoholic drinks. Tickets are $15.00 per person- CASH ONLY and can be purchased during office hours at NSRAA- 1308 Sawmill Creek Road. (8-5 Mon-Fri)
We are providing two tours on Saturday for you to choose from.
Tour 1
9:00am – 12:15pm
Tour 2
12:30pm – 4:00pm.
Transportation to and from Medvejie Hatchery will be provide by Allen Marine. Our port of departure/arrival is Crescent Harbor.
Boats depart promptly at 9 and 12:30 so don’t be late!
Space is limited on each tour.
Physical ticket will be needed to board & no refunds.
This will be a great chance to see King Salmon returning to the hatchery, and to hear about our fisheries enhancement program.
We hope you can join us!
For more information, call 747-6850.
Support Alaska Hatcheries at Board of Fisheries
Alaska Board of Fisheries Proposals. Your voice is needed.
The board of fisheries will take up three hatchery proposals at the statewide meeting. Proposals 170, 171, and 172 seek to impose broad, preemptive reductions or moratoria on Alaska’s private nonprofit (PNP) salmon hatchery program without demonstrating a causal link between hatchery production and the specific conservation concerns they claim to address. Collectively, these proposals abandon Alaska’s science-based, adaptive management framework in favor of blanket regulatory actions that would undermine fisheries stability, harm coastal communities, and set a dangerous precedent for decision-making absent demonstrated necessity. Go to the ADF&G Public Comment Link to share your comments.
ADF&G Public Comment LinkThe Salmon Hatcheries For Alaska Group also has a portal for submitting commets.
Some helpful resources:
Board of Fisheries Meeting Page Proposals 170-172 Salmon Hatcheries For Alaska Prop Summaries
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