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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 […]Economic Benefits of Hatcheries
Alaska’s PNP hatchery associations contracted with McKinley Research Group
to update previous research on the economic impact of hatcheries. This update
covers 2018-2023. See link below for details!
Deep Inlet to Re-open Saturday August 26th to Troll
NSRAA has moved sufficient chum salmon brood stock to Bear Cove/Medvejie hatchery, to allow the reopening of Deep Inlet on Saturday August 26th to troll. The regular 2023 Deep Inlet weekly net rotation will begin with seine on Sunday August 27th. On Wednesday August 23 NSRAA moved approximately 22,000 chum from the Deep Inlet THA to Bear Cove. An additional 10,000 fish were secured in net pens at the head of Deep Inlet. Thursday August 24th NSRAA is continuing to move fish to Bear Cove and secure additional fish in net pens at the head of Deep Inlet. Be aware that the net pens at the head of Deep Inlet will remain in place with fish in them for up to a week. Please exercise caution around the net pens at the head of the bay.
Cost Recovery is ongoing at Crawfish Inlet and West Crawfish. By end of Thursday we should be approximately 40% complete and have taken nearly 1 million pounds in the past 5 days. We anticipate this pace will continue for several days and are monitoring fish build in both West and Crawfish Inlet. A common property seine opening in West Crawfish may be warranted if numbers of fish maintain their current level during ongoing cost recovery. Last West Crawfish troll sample indicated 70% male, 82% 4-year old’s and 6.3lb average weight.
On the east side of Baranof Island this past week we have collected approximately 70k lbs of coho cost recovery between Mist Cove and Hidden Falls.
Deep Inlet Chum Brood Stock Closure Beginning August 19th.
NSRAA has requested that ADFG close the Deep Inlet THA to commercial fishing beginning on Aug 19th (Troll day) until further notice. It is our intention to complete brood stock collection by Aug 25th and reopen to Troll gear in the THA on Saturday Aug 26th. If brood collection proceeds quicker than anticipated NSRAA will reopen as soon as possible beginning with a troll day. If brood collection is slower than anticipated the closure will be extended until brood goals met. We will provide web updates daily on Deep Inlet chum brood collection progress.
As forecast, NSRAA continues to see very few Bear Cove bound fall chum salmon. For last week (wk 32), the total age 4 component of the Deep Inlet THA and Sitka Sound troll harvest was only 2%. Additionally we are estimating there are only 5k fall chum at Bear Cove currently. Our total pre-season brood stock goal is 110,000 fall chum and egg takes typically begin on Aug 21st. Fall chum returns to Deep Inlet have yet to show a build up towards the peak of the run. This is likely due to lower harvest effort in the THA as well as lack of chum volume in the sound. Charts below track difference in returns vs projections for Bear Cove and Deep Inlet 4 year olds.
August 11th Return Update
This week the major news is the historic drop in chum salmon prices to .20 by most large processors (Chart for SEAK below) and the continued very large pink salmon seine harvest in SE Alaska. This combination of drop in chum price and increase in pink salmon abundance has led to greatly reduced seine effort in Deep Inlet. Effort in the Sitka Sound troll fishery and in Crawfish Inlet has also dramatically declined since Monday due to the drop in price. This drop in troll effort is also being exasperated by NSRAA’s request of the closure of Sitka Sound to chum retention during the Coho closure due to brood stock concerns at Bear Cove. We continue to have concerns for brood stock numbers for Bear Cove and continue to plan on closure of Deep Inlet to all harvest beginning on Saturday Aug 19 for Troll and from Aug 20th to Aug 25th for the net fisheries. We will continue to evaluate return numbers to Deep Inlet and Bear Cove over the weekend but barring some unlikely dramatic turn of events will work with ADFG to issue announcement early next week.
For the few troll fishermen sticking it out in West Crawfish Inlet with the low prices the catch has been very good and there are indications of a large push of chum moving into outer West Crawfish and towards the four corners area. Initial chum otolith samples from troll effort in West Crawfish indicate 90% male, 80% 4-year olds and 6.7lb average weight. NSRAA will have cost recovery boats in Crawfish Inlet beginning Monday Aug 14th. I anticipate the rain forecast for this weekend will get harvestable numbers of chum moving through Cedar Pass and into the inlet. This will be the first cost recovery effort of the season in Crawfish Inlet.
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