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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 […]Deep Inlet Seine 30 August
Big shoot out at head of Deep Inlet, diving dogs, and 117 boats (possibly a record). Reports indicate that something on the order of 200,000 chum will be caught today. Chum continue to enter the SHA at Long Island, million dollar pass, and Error Island in modest numbers.
Good luck to the gillnetters tomorrow.
Deep Inlet Cost Recovery Completed!
Announcement will come out Sunday for Deep Inlet reopening. Completed in record time thanks to 10 harvest boats and numerous fish. The remainder of the Deep Inlet fish will be for common property. I do not see any broodstock problems.
Please respect the gear group that is fishing their rotation in Deep Inlet; stay out of their way. Trollers will likely be fish Eastern Channel as well.
Troll Tuesday
Seine Wednesday
Gillnet Thursday
and so forth on published schedule.
Great job SBS seiners getting the job done efficiently and orderly. Thank you
Deep Inlet Cost Recovery Saturday 26 Aug – 8am
Began fishing at 6 a.m. with 8 boats. Approximately 400,000 pounds harvested by 8 a.m. We will attempt to finish cost recovery today, just another 280,000 pounds to go. We will harvest about 150,000 pounds outside Deep Inlet beginning at 9 a.m.
It is almost certain we will open with troll on Tuesday and seine Wednesday, gillnet Thursday. Next update early afternoon. If we complete cost recovery today or Sunday, ADF&G is already on alert so an announcement can be issued soon after.
Hidden Falls and Deep Inlet – June 26 2017
The fishing season is off to a mixed start and there is sufficient information to predict what is likely to unfold for the Hidden Falls and early run Deep Inlet chum programs. First Hidden Falls: the first two openings were disappointing but not unexpected. The return to date is about 10,000 chum through June 25th, which is similar to last year and worse than 2015. Therefore, Hidden Falls will not open for the foreseeable future. We will concentrate on broodstock – we need approximately 220,000 adults to fully satisfy our programs at Kasnyku Bay (75 million eggs), Thomas Bay (25 million eggs), Deep Inlet (24 million eggs), and SE Cove (55 million eggs).
Deep Inlet: the catch through June 24 is 4,400 chum, this is about half of the 2016 harvest. It is early, so there is still time for that to change, but right now it is looking like a weak start. The gillnet catch showed 81% male and 59% 4 year olds. This is a high percentage of 4 year olds for the front end of the run and could mean a poor 5 year old survival. The past three years have been very good years for the early run (Hidden Falls stock) at Deep Inlet. The cost recovery harvest plan is published on the website and we expect to stick to the plan based on what we know now. Beginning in August we will look for the opportunity to harvest chum outside of Deep Inlet but it is likely we will need to close Deep Inlet to commercial fishing some time between August 7 and August 20 to harvest ~2 million pounds of chum.
A state-wide perspective: PWS chum appear to be ten days to two weeks late, but run strength is looking right on target based on the steep slope of the harvest curve. SE Alaska chum don’t appear late at all and moderate to strong in the first two harvest weeks. DIPAC chum in district 15 were strong in the initial opening with over 70,000 fish caught. The second opening numbers are not in yet but reports are good for districts 11 and 15. On the south end, SSRAA programs had good catches in the first district 2 seine opening (30,000 chum) and large fish size (unlike 2016). The second opening reports are decent, although fleet size is affecting average catch. Neets Bay is already seeing some terminal chum.
NSRAA Scholarships – Application Deadline April 17
A reminder to students that the NSRAA’s 2017 Scholarship application deadline is approaching. Applications must be received at the NSRAA office by 5 pm AKDT on April 17, 2017.
Scholarship Info:
The NSRAA board established the scholarship program at their March 2001 meeting.
In March 2011, the NSRAA board added a third scholarship, specifically for two-year degrees, including most vocational / technical programs.
Three $2500 scholarships are available annually. Those eligible to apply are those who hold a current State of Alaska salmon limited entry permit and paid enhancement tax to NSRAA in the year prior to the application, and their children. NSRAA full-time and seasonal benefited employees and their dependent children and other immediate family members are also eligible to apply.
At this time the scholarships are non-renewable, but winners can apply again in the future.
The scholarship is not limited to students who intend to study fisheries.
The application period runs from January 1 through April 15 (or the Monday after the 15th if the 15th falls on a weekend).
Application forms may be picked up at (or requested from) the NSRAA office in Sitka. Forms will also be available at the counselor’s office at your local high school. The form may also be downloaded here:
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