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A one handed clap best describes the reaction to the 43,000 signature drop off by anti-salmon setnet advocates at the Division of Elections last week. It means enough signatures were gathered to include the question on the 2016 primary election ballot, and let Alaska voters decide whether to ban setnets at Cook Inlet, Mat-Su, Anchorage, Juneau, Valdez, Ketchikan, and any communities designated as “urban” and “non-subsistence” in the future. The ban is being pushed one-handed by the Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance (AFCA), whose board o...
Salmon fisheries are opening up this month from one end of Alaska to the other. Total catches so far of mostly sockeye, were under one million fish, but will add up fast from here on. A total haul for all Alaska salmon this season is pegged at 221 million fish. A highlight so far is a 40 percent increase in troll action at Southeast regions, where nearly 300 fishermen are targeting king salmon. That’s likely due to a boosted price averaging $7.54 a pound, up $1.88 from last year. Speaking of high prices – Alaska halibut fishermen are fet...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) Division of Sport Fish announced a bag and possession limit of king salmon in the Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area, which took effect on Monday and will last through July 31. King salmon limits for residents and nonresidents will be two fish for those measuring 28 inches or greater, and two for those less than 28 inches. King salmon caught by nonresident anglers in the terminal harvest area will not count toward the 2015 nonresident annual limit. The terminal harvest area...
Alaska’s salmon industry is ready to get corked by the inability of state lawmakers to pass a budget. More than 20,000 state workers are bracing for 30 day layoff notices, meaning they’ll be off the job when the new fiscal year starts on July 1. The timing couldn’t be worse for Alaska’s salmon managers who are nearing the peak of a season that could set new records. “There is some budget, about 27 percent of our normal amount for us to work in the field, and do our management responsibilities. But how we proceed from July 1 is what we’re wor...
Alaskans will have to wait until fall to learn if salmon habitat prevails over a coal mine proposed at Upper Cook Inlet. A decision due earlier this month by the state Department of Natural Resources has been delayed until after a public hearing later this summer, said Ed Fogels, DNR Deputy Commissioner. At issue is competing water rights claims filed in 2009 by the Chuitna Citizens Coalition and PacRim Coal of Delaware and Texas. The Coalition wants to protect spawning tributaries of the salmon-rich Chuitna River, dubbed the Kenai of the West...
Chad Smith holds a 42.7-pound king salmon he caught over Memorial Day weekend, which won him the $2,500 weekend prize and propelled him to the top of the 63rd Annual King Salmon Derby bracket. If Smith's fish remains the winner by the derby's end on June 7, it will have been the third smallest on record for the month-long tournament....
Nowhere in the world do people have as much opportunity to speak their minds to fish policy makers as they do in Alaska. As decision day approaches, a groundswell of Alaska voices is demanding that fishery overseers say bye-bye to halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea. They are speaking out against the more than six million pounds of halibut that are dumped overboard each year as bycatch in trawl fisheries that target flounders, rockfish, perch, mackerel and other groundfish (not pollock). The bycatch levels, which are set by the North Pacific...
How much are fishermen affected by long term health problems like hearing loss, lack of sleep and high blood pressure? A pilot study aims to find out and researchers are using the 500-plus members of the Copper River salmon driftnet fleet as test subjects. “The Copper River fishing season lasts five months and most of the fleet is very digitally connected so it seemed a great fit,” said Torie Baker, a Sea Grant Marine Advisory Agent in Cordova. Baker is the point person for the project being done by the School of Public Health at the Uni...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the 2015 sport fishing regulations for king salmon for Southeast and Yakutat. The regulations took effect last Friday and last through May 1, 2016. Alaska residents are allowed to bag and possess three king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length. Nonresidents are limited to one king, 28 inches or longer, except during May and June when they are allowed up to two. The nonresident annual limit is six king salmon. From October 1 through March 31, 2016, sport anglers may use two rods when fishing...
Alaskan salmon producers are not buying the presumption that growing numbers of pinks are eating too much food in the ocean, causing sockeye salmon to grow slower and smaller. That’s the claim of a new study by Seattle and British Columbia researchers, who say the race for food ultimately affects sockeye abundance and survival. “Our data sets extend up to 55 years each. In terms of looking at productivity or survival of salmon, they’ve included 36 sockeye populations,” said Greg Ruggerone, a researcher at Natural Resources Consultants in Seat...
Each year more than one third of all the salmon caught in Alaska begin their lives in a hatchery. There are 31 hatchery facilities in Alaska: 15 privately owned, 11 state owned, two federal research facilities, one tribal hatchery at Metlakatla, and 2 state owned sport fish hatcheries. Alaska’s hatchery program is very different from fish farming, where salmon are crammed tightly into net pens until they’re ready for market. All salmon born in Alaska’s hatcheries come from wild brood stock, and are released as fingerlings to the sea. When...
Permits will soon be available for those wanting to visit the Anan Wildlife Observatory this summer. Located on the mainland just south of Wrangell Island, the observatory is a popular place to view bears in the wild in Southeast Alaska. The United States Forest Service announced that, starting Friday, the public will be able to reserve permits for the 2015 summer season. From July 5 through Aug. 25, visitors to the observatory are required to obtain a permit. Up to 20 permits may be available for each day, and they can be reserved in groups...
Marine boat anglers returning to ports where and when on-site ADF&G creel surveys are conducted will be prohibited from filleting, mutilating, and de-heading sport caught lingcod, nonpelagic rockfish, and king and coho salmon. Marine boat anglers returning to any port on the road system of the communities listed below, during the times designated, may not fillet, mutilate, or de-head these fish until the fish have been brought to shore and offloaded, unless the fish have been consumed or preserved on board: Petersburg from: 12:01 a.m. Monday,...
A mile long string of 29 sablefish pots was lost last month in Prince William Sound after being run over by tugs towing barges at Knight Island Passage. “It appears that some tug boats passed back and forth across where the gear was set, and now we have no idea where it is,” said Maria Wessel, a groundfish biologist at the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game office at Cordova. The pots are part of an ongoing tagging study started in 2011 to track the movement of the Sound’s sablefish stock. It was intended to be the third test run for the proje...
By Dani Pa;mer Sentinel writer PETERSBURG – The 2015 spring troll fishery got its early start this week. The fishery opened in select locations at 12:01 a.m. today, Thursday. Last year, the first spring troll fishery opened on May 1. Frederick Sound, Ernest Sound, the Neets Bay Terminal Harvest Area and the Hidden Falls Terminal Harvest Area opened and will remain so through April 30, according to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game press release. “Frederick Sound has always been a good area,” Sitka Troll Fishery Biologist Pattie Skannes...
Caribou instead of corn dogs…salmon instead of Trout Treasures… seal meat in place of spaghetti – all could soon be available to more Alaskans if traction continues on a new bipartisan bill before the Alaska legislature. The bill - HB 179 - allows schools, senior centers, hospitals, child care centers and other facilities to accept and serve fish, game, plants and eggs that are donated by subsistence and sport users. Currently, well-meaning state laws intended to prevent the commercial sale of wild game make the practice illegal if a progr...
File this fish story under the “can there be too much of a good thing” category. Alaska is expecting another bumper run of salmon this year– state managers announced last Friday a projected total catch of 221 million salmon, 39 percent higher than last year. (The numbers for Chinook salmon are still being calculated,) Regional catch projections for this summer are up across the board, according to http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/FedAidPDFs/SP15-04.pdf. Runs and Harvest Projections for Alaska’s 2015 Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2014 season...
Volunteers are needed to help craft new safety rules that are being written for older boats – which includes the bulk of Alaska’s fishing vessels. Called the Alternate Compliance Safety Program (ACSP), it is part of the 2010 US Coast Guard Authorization Act and is aimed atvessels that will be 25 years old by 2020, are greater than 50 feet in length, and operate beyond three nautical miles. The program will include most of Alaska’s fishing fleet — a 2014 maritime study by the Juneau-based McDowell Group shows that the majority of Alaska...
PETERSBURG – Those looking to work at Petersburg’s fish processors will have a good chance to jump onboard with this summer’s pink salmon season predicted to be a big one. “The 2015 harvest forecast of 58 million pink salmon is well above the recent 10-year average harvest of 41 million pink salmon, and a harvest of that magnitude would be in the top ten harvests since 1960,” according to a guide put out by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Andy Piston, pink and chum salmon project leader in Ketchikan, and Steve Heinl, Ketchikan r...
