Whatever one might say about the year’s fishing harvests, it wouldn’t be fair to say the Southeast purse seining fleet is in the pink.
The state forecast for 2015 anticipated a 58 million pink salmon harvest for Southeast, but so far harvests have not been living up to the expectation.
“We are not even coming close,” explained Dan Gray, Alaska Department of Fish and Game management coordinator for Southeast fisheries in Sitka. With the season already in its ninth week, only 22 million pink salmon have been reported harvested by seiners so far, with perhaps another 2 million caught over the weekend.
“It’s much, much lower than we expected,” commented John Webby, manager of Trident Seafoods’ production in Southeast Alaska. He was in Ketchikan visiting facilities Monday and stopped into Wrangell on Tuesday. “We’re very, very disappointed the run didn’t come in.”
The company would be taking a good, hard look at whether Trident needs Wrangell’s production. However, this would depend on fishermen’s desire to keep fishing, and what ADFG might say about potential openings elsewhere.
While large pink returns in Prince William Sound and other parts of the state have helped overall, Webby said it is likely Trident will have to close early in Wrangell.
Chum numbers in the region have at least been better than expected—4 million by the weekend—but their numbers have not offset the lack of pinks.
“We’re not going to hit the predicted number for Southeast,” projected Vern Phillips, manager for Wrangell’s Sea Level Seafoods plant.
“I wouldn’t say it’s been a banner year,” he said. However, Phillips expected the plant to continue buying salmon until at least the end September, through the coho season.
Pink salmon catches in southern Southeast this year have been approximately half of the recent ten-year average and catches in northern Southeast have been just above the recent ten-year average.
In Southeast Alaska, for the past two decades nearly three-fourths of all salmon harvested have been pinks, with chum making up another 18 percent. Over this time period, Tongass-sourced pinks have made up close to 39 percent of all pink salmon harvested in the state.
This year’s run was slightly early, and ADFG reported initial catch estimates for the August 11-12 opening were 25 percent lower than previous openings, indicating the run is past its peak. The combined in-season forecast for the region is now looking at approximately 30 to 35 million pink salmon.
The reason for the low showing is unknown at this point, but it may be related to water conditions.
“From the time we got the forecast we were kind of cautioned about the warm water in the Gulf of Alaska,” Gray explained. “We’re not really certain what that does to their food supplies either,” he said.
Compounding problems with the run, the price for pink salmon is lower than it has been in recent years, which would also factor into producers’ considerations. The price for pinks has hovered between 18 and 20 cents per pound.
On the plus side, Gray said escapements have been good, with numbers strong in the Juneau and Sitka areas.
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