Late last week the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued a group announcement regarding expected changes for sport fishermen in Southeast this year.
In the Petersburg and Wrangell areas, the marine waters of District 8 are going to be closed to the retention of King Salmon between May 1 and July 15. An exception will be made for the area immediately adjacent to Petersburg’s City Creek, which will be open to King Salmon fishing from June 1 to July 31 to target 300 hatchery salmon expected to return to the area.
The closure is being taken to relieve pressure on King Salmon returning to the Stikine River system. For two years in a row, Chinook escapement on the Stikine has failed to meet its lower escapement goal of 14,000 fish. In 2016 the estimates were at only 12,000, and last year the stock had dropped to 10,000 salmon.
To further relieve pressure on the stock returning to the river, a portion of District 7 in the Back Channel will also be closed to sport fishing for kings, down to Babbler and Madan points. At a meeting of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce Derby Committee last month, ADFG management biologist Patrick Fowler explained further closures, such as to the entirety of District 7, could come in later years if the stock failed to improve.
The Stikine River’s King Salmon stock was not alone in failing to meet escapement goals, with stock in the Alsek, Chilkat, Taku, Andrew, Unuk, Chickamin and Blossom river systems failing to meet goals the past two years running. The King Salmon River failed to meet escapement goals for 2017, but with the exception of 2016 had also failed to meet targets for three years prior. It, along with the Unuk and Chilkat rivers, has only met goal once in the past five years, meaning its stock meets the definition for being designated a “stock of concern” at last month’s meeting of the Board of Fisheries in Sitka.
Of the 11 indicator stocks of King Salmon in Southeast annually tracked by ADFG, nine of the rivers have missed their escapement goals the past two years. Only the Keta River north of Ketchikan has consistently made goal for all of the past five years, while the Situk River in Yakutat actually exceeded its upper goal last year after substandard years in 2015 and 2016.
Last week’s announcement reflects regulatory changes approved by the board last month, as well as the likely management actions to be taken according to the available data. The announcement is not itself an emergency order, with individual orders expected out closer to spring.
“What we want to do is get this information out to the public,” Fowler explained. The intention is to allow charters and individual anglers to prepare in advance for the actions to come. “That’s what we intend to do, unless something changes in-season.”
For King Salmon, related orders will come out once an allocation for Chinook has been set by the Pacific Salmon Commission, a treaty-based body which meets next week in Vancouver. That allocation will be based on a coastwide abundance index put forward by the commission’s Chinook Technical Committee.
“Usually we’ll wait until that has been established,” said Fowler. He expected ADFG orders to be released later in March.
Due to the planned closure, last month the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce’s derby committee decided to limit its usually month-long King Salmon derby to weekends, while Petersburg’s has opted to cancel its Memorial Day weekend derby completely. Shortened to four weekends and limited to open areas in District 7, Wrangell’s committee hopes to lighten the pressure on the area’s King Salmon population.
The temporary closure of District 8 was not the only management action attached to last week’s announcement. Per the BoF’s adopted regulatory changes, sport, personal use and subsistence harvesters of shrimp will be required to obtain a permit. ADFG is currently developing the permit, which will be available online and at its offices.
“It will be a free permit and will probably work similarly to deer tags,” Fowler explained.
By tying noncommercial shrimp harvests to a permit-based system, the department should be able to collect better data for the wider fishery. Until the system is developed, however, anglers may continue to harvest shrimp under the existing regulations.
In the Wrangell Narrows and Blind Slough terminal harvest area, the sport fishing opportunity may be increased from June 1 to July 31, with a bag limit of two King Salmon over 28 inches and two under that length allowed. ADFG is forecasting a surplus of 2,600 adults from the Crystal Lake hatchery, enabling the opportunity.
Also adopted by the board last month, anglers will need to begin planning ahead for 2020, when it will be required for all user groups fishing off a vessel in salt waters in Southeast to make use of a deep water release mechanism for nonpelagic rockfish. The devices are already in use by charters, and the decision will extend that to sport and other users. Releasing rockfish back at the depth it was hooked greatly increases their survival rate.
For questions or comments regarding the upcoming actions, Fowler can be contacted at his Petersburg office at 772-5231, or by email at patrick.fowler@alaska.gov.
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