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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 […]
NSRAA Scholarship Reminder - Each year NSRAA awards three $2500 scholarships. Applications are due soon – check it out! Scholarships
August 25th-Deep Inlet to reopen Tuesday August 26th - Cost recovery has been completed for Deep Inlet. The Deep Inlet THA will reopen starting Tuesday with the following rotation for this week(stat wk 35)-Tuesday-Troll, Wednesday-seine, Thur/Fri-gillnet, Saturday seine. Next week the Deep Inlet rotation will revert to the regular schedule of Sunday-seine, Mon-Wed-gillnet, Thur/Fri-seine and Saturday-troll. The ADFG announcement should be out shortly.
August 22-Deep Inlet Cost Recovery Progress Update - Based upon Friday morning Deep Inlet cost recovery progress, a Deep Inlet reopening announcement will not be issued at this time. At current harvest rates it is unlikely our cost recovery goal will be met by end of day Saturday. The next potential reopening announcement has been pushed back to Monday, August 25th and will […]
Return Update-August 19th - Deep Inlet Last week a total of 276,000 chum salmon returned to Deep Inlet. The majority of the harvest, 156,000, occurred in the pink salmon seine fishery in Eastern Channel. Troll harvest in Sitka Sounds also increased last week with approximately 60,000 chum harvested by 67 troll permit holders. An additional 35,000 chum were harvested […]Crawfish Inlet to Open Thursday Sept. 6
We will suspend cost recovery after Wednesday and have a common property seine opening Thursday September 6th. I will need to confer with ADF&G tomorrow morning for this to be official; expect ADF&G to get an announcement out Tuesday afternoon.
Sampling at Shamrock Bay and Crawfish Inlet today showed brighter fish and slightly more females at Shamrock. My observations on the two harvest boats and tender in Shamrock Bay was no very dark or nasty chum and only low numbers of gillers in the web. Fish density in Shamrock was lower than expected with only 200,000 lbs of chum taken. This seems to confirm that the chum move through West Crawfish and up into the inlets such as Shamrock, but then back out and continue on to Crawfish Inlet. Additional evidence for this is that the trollers were not happy with the harvest boats fishing in Shamrock, which suggests the trollers fish on chum moving east in West Crawfish but also west as the fish leave Shamrock and head to Cedar Pass.
Look for the ADF&G announcement and good luck.
Crawfish Inlet Update September 3
The Crawfish Inlet run continues to develop with exceptionally strong 3s at about 82% of the run or 1.5 million fish, and surprisingly low 4s (330,000 fish), although not terrible, lower than expected. The run isn’t over so I am hoping more of the remaining females are 4s rather than 3s. We are seeing a bump in female ratio with the last two CR harvests and seine samples close to 40%. Today’s CR harvest appears closer to 50%.
The sex ratio is another anomaly – 75% males so far, this is likely driven by the high number of 3s which tend to be precocious males. These unusual data make predicting where we are in the run and forecasting next year’s run difficult. Nevertheless, I expect another several hundred thousand fish before it is all done. The run total to date is about 2.1 million fish and will likely hit 2.5 million or better.
Cost recovery will continue tomorrow Sept. 4th.
The troll fishery at West Crawfish continues to be robust with 25 boats and a total harvest of 175,000 chum.
Hidden Falls: Sunday June 17, 2018 Opening
The initial Hidden Falls opening is coming up on Sunday, June 17.
Note that the THA is restricted to approximately 1 mile offshore, due to this spring’s Chinook restrictions.
An excerp from the June 7 ADF&G News Release:
District 12
The following area will be open to purse seining from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Sunday, June 17, 2018:
Section 12-A: will be open in the following areas:
Point Augusta: will be open within 0.5 nautical miles from the Chichagof Island shoreline south of 58°03.00′ N. latitude and north of a regulatory marker at 58°01.63′ N. latitude (located one nautical mile south of Point Augusta Light);
Hidden Falls Terminal Harvest Area (THA): will be open in the waters of Chatham Strait within the boundaries of a line from South Point, as indicated by a marker at 57°16.28′ N. latitude, 134°51.78′ W. longitude to a point offshore at 57°16.28′ N. latitude, 134°49.94′ W. longitude, then running south to a point offshore at 57°06.76′ N. latitude, 134°45.37′ W. longitude then due west to a point on the Baranof Island shoreline at 57°06.76′ N. latitude, 134°47.50′ W. longitude with the following restriction:
Kasnyku Bay: will be closed north and west of a line from North Point at 57°13.36′ N. latitude, 134°50.53′ W. longitude to the northernmost tip of Round Island to the southernmost tip of Round Island to a point on the Baranof Island shoreline at 57°12.48′ N. latitude, 134°50.98′ W. longitude.
Approximate lines are shown here:
Hidden Falls THA – 6.17.18
Visiting Hidden Falls
NOTICE:
Effective March 20, 2020:
HIDDEN FALLS and all NSRAA facilities are closed to the public until further notice due to the Covid-19 shelter in place policy.
Hidden Falls has become a popular destination for visitors!
To provide the best opportunity for visitors, and to minimize impacts on hatchery staff, NSRAA is implementing a reservation system for visitors.
- Visitors will now be required to have a reservation.
- Visits are limited to 1.5 hours and must be scheduled between the hours of 9:00am and 4:00 pm daily.
We have set up a web page for submitting visitation requests. Here you can view a calendar to see what dates and times are open and submit your request. The page is listed under our “the FrontPage” menu listing, and can also be accessed on our homepage.
NSRAA Board Opposes Baranof Warm Springs Hatchery Proposal
NSRAA’s Board of Directors passed a resolution in opposition to an application for a new salmon hatchery at Warm Springs Bay at the 2018 spring board meeting. The Sustainable Salmon Institute’s proposal has generated a great deal of discussion in the fishing community, among Baranof Warm Spring property owners, and among members of the general public. The site is located approximately 10 miles south of Hidden Falls Hatchery. NSRAA’s resolution can be viewed here, as well as on the NSRAA home page.
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