The state Department of Fish and Game has announced its 2018 preseason estimates for Chinook salmon, and its all-gear harvest limit for Southeast Alaska under provisions of the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
In its release last week, the department set the year’s limit at 130,000 “treaty fish,” nearly 80,000 fish lower than the preseason limit available in 2017. This also includes a 10-percent reduction in response to conservation needs for the king salmon stocks in Southeast, northern British Columbia, and their transboundary rivers.
The annual all-gear harvest limit for Southeast is determined by the Chinook Technical Committee of the Pacific Salmon Commission and is based on the forecast of an aggregate abundance of Pacific Coast Chinook salmon stocks – encompassing Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon – subject to management under the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
The Chinook salmon all-gear harvest limit is allocated among sport, commercial troll and commercial net fisheries under management plans specified by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. This year’s allocation is limited to 1,000 fish for the set gillnet fishery; 5,600 for the purse seine, or 4.3 percent of all gear; 3,800 for the drift gillnet, or 2.9 percent; 95,700 for the troll, or 80 percent after net gear subtracted; and 23,900 for sport, or 20 percent after net gear subtracted.
The impacted regions’ Chinook salmon stocks are experiencing unprecedented levels of poor production, with record low runs observed for many of these stocks in 2017. Forecasts indicate continued poor levels of production in 2018. In an effort to bolster spawning escapements, Alaska and Canada are coordinating fisheries management per treaty obligations to minimize the harvest of these depressed Chinook salmon stocks.
Information on allocations and regulations that will be in place for the 2018 season can be found in news releases from the ADFG commercial and sport division websites at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov.
Reader Comments(0)