District 8 closures to limit derby to weekends

The committee responsible for organizing Wrangell's annual king salmon derby decided last week to alter its usual scheduling, in light of anticipated emergency orders limiting sport opportunity at the Stikine River.

In its 66th year now, the 2018 Wrangell King Salmon Derby is an annual activity put on by the Chamber of Commerce. Its derby committee is a voluntary body filled by community members, currently chaired by Shawn Curley.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game intends to issue an emergency management order for this spring and summer, closing most of District 8 to sport fishermen angling for king salmon. Escapement forecasts for Chinook returning to the Stikine River are about half their lower regulatory threshold this year, causing the river to join other troubled populations in river systems along the Southeast coast.

At the Board of Fisheries meeting that concluded in Sitka January 23, king salmon populations of the Unuk, Chilkat and King Salmon rivers were designated as stocks of concern, meaning escapement has failed to meet goals for four of the past five years. While the Stikine and Taku rivers neighboring these systems have not yet reached that point, the recent depletion of their stocks mirrors a troubling regionwide trend.

With this in mind, the committee was joined by members of the public January 24 to discuss what should be done about the upcoming derby. The group also had time to speak with ADFG management biologist Patrick Fowler, who participated by phone from Petersburg. He fielded questions and concerns and attempted to explain the department's likely course of action.

"Our forecast for this next year is about half of our escapement goal. So we're basically being very restrictive in our management across fisheries," he said. "The planned management actions for our area, specifically to protect Stikine River king salmon and Andrews Creek fish, is going to be non-retention of king salmon in all of District 8, except for a small couple-hundred yard radius around City Creek on the Petersburg side, where there are a few hundred hatchery fish returning."

Fowler went on to explain this would apply to sport fishermen between May 1 and July 15. Other fisheries will likely see restrictions as well, but under separate orders. He expected all management actions stemming from the Board of Fisheries' actions would likely be released together as a formal announcement.

"That's the time that we harvest the majority of Stikine River wild stock of king salmon," he said. "It also corresponds with the time period that those adult king salmon that are coming to the river are transiting through the area."

The goal is to reduce the harvest of area king salmon as much as possible, relieving pressures to their number that has been attributed to decreasing survival rates once smolt reach the marine environment. While the area around Wrangell and Petersburg saw some closures during the 1980s stock rebuilding effort, Fowler said the prospective closure would be unprecedented.

To further protect salmon returning to the Stikine River, Fowler said he would likely close off a portion of District 7 in Wrangell's Back Channel.

"My biggest concern is that point right there off of the flats," he said. "To provide a little bit of additional protection, we're going to move that boundary line down into District 7."

ADFG has some flexibility in setting such boundaries, and after taking input from those at the meeting a boundary stretching from Point Madan to the Channel Island marker to the mainland seemed likely.

That would better take pressure off of the stock in the Stikine River, but in future years Fowler added a closure of District 7 could also happen if stocks continued to suffer. One thing the department would want to avoid, he said, would be a "balloon effect" that would harm other anadromous streams.

"Any time that we close an area, we expect we're going to displace some of that effort to the surrounding areas," Fowler said. "If you squeeze it, it's going to bulge out in other directions."

As well as the geographical limitations, Fowler expected bag limits of one fish for residents, though that is yet to be determined. While opportunity will remain outside of District 8, he expected management this year would likely be more restrictive than in previous years.

Given these expectations, the Derby Committee discussed its own options for the coming competition. Running for a month from mid-May to mid-June, the Wrangell derby is the longest in the region. Though District 7 would remain open, to help take pressure off of the king salmon stock Curley suggested trimming the competition down to weekends instead of shortening the duration.

"What we're just trying to do is separate our days but still catch both ends of the run," he explained.

Shortening the derby by a couple of weeks was another option considered. Not on the committee, local business owner Jeff Angerman expressed a concern that limiting the competition to only weekends would also limit participation, as some people and visitors are unavailable at those times. With an overall reduction in ticket sales he also raised the question of whether the grand prizes at the end would be manageable.

Also sitting in on the meeting, school teacher Brian Merritt suggested going for a proportional prize for the top four fish caught by the derby's end, based on the total number of tickets sold. That would allow the competition to react to participation while still allowing for prizes, which he considered secondary to the derby in any case.

"I don't think anybody that comes to fish the derby cares about the prize money. We love it because we love to catch the fish," he explained. Merritt also echoed others at the meeting in his support for a weekend schedule.

"I think it's a reasonable compromise to go to the weekends because a lot of working folks can't participate in the derby through the week, but on the weekends it allows for participation on a community-wide basis," he said. "And I think we need to look like other communities in Southeast, like we are recognizing the fact that the king salmon population is in trouble."

Curley said a more limited derby could still be necessary in the future, such as Petersburg's over the Memorial Day weekend. "It might come to that eventually, if they still allow us to. It might come to a point where they won't even allow us to fish," he added.

Curley suggested that after this year the committee can crunch the numbers and evaluate whether the weekend formula is cost-effective, potentially trying a different format next year should the salmon population still be in peril.

The committee was for the moment in agreement on this course, though it will still need to hammer out how to organize prizes. Special derby days and youth prizes would remain the same as in previous years, as would the weekly awards. But apportioning out final awards will still need to be worked on. A follow-up meeting with the public was planned to occur yesterday, and the Chamber is still looking for feedback on this year's event.

"This is the first year we've had to do anything like this, or even think about it," Curley said. Any changes that come will take some adjusting to.

"I'm just glad we're going to have a derby," commented Angerman. "This is going to be painful. So we're going to have to just watch and learn."