State reopens Outer Coast to king salmon trollers

The winter troll king salmon fishery reopened in outside waters around Southeast Alaska last Sunday.

Trollers will be able to target up to 28,000 Chinook salmon remaining in the fleet’s original winter guideline harvest level of 45,000 fish. The opening will last through the end of April, or until the remaining fish of the guideline harvest are caught.

The state’s March 30 emergency order opened much of Southeast Alaska’s Outer Coast — from Craig to Yakutat — to the troll fleet. The Department of Fish and Game decided the opening would not threaten weak salmon runs to inside river systems.

The decision marks a partial return to pre-2018 fishing practices, when the winter troll fishery extended through April, state troll fisheries biologist Grant Hagerman said.

“Prior to 2018,” he said, “that winter fishery by regulation continued in all waters of Southeast Alaska within the winter troll boundary line, but the date of the fishery continued through April 30 rather than March 15. … This is the first time since 2017 that we’ve been fishing in April.”

Matt Donohoe, president of the Alaska Trollers Association, hailed the extension of the winter troll fishery as an economic boon.

“This gives the trollers a chance to make some money when they really need it, which they’ll spend in the local communities,” Donohoe said. “It’s worth a million dollars or more to the troll fleet … and it’s that time of year when there is no money coming into those communities, very little.”

Fish and Game chose to open the Outer Coast to fishing because returning salmon from river systems that have had trouble meeting escapement goals in recent years are less likely to be present in the area.

“We’ve identified that the Southeast Alaska wild proportions are very low (in the Outer Coast area), the harvest rates are very low,” Hagerman said. “It’s a highly mixed stock fishery on the outside, with Alaska hatchery stocks, very few stocks from Alaska, but you do have Canadian stocks, southern U.S. stocks in high numbers that kind of dilute any wild (Alaskan) fish on the outside,” the biologist said.

“It will favor those living in those communities living adjacent to those outside waters. You’re looking at Yakutat, Pelican, Elfin Cove, Sitka, Craig, some of those areas,” Hagerman said.

“Last week (Chinook salmon sold for) around $10 a pound. So you compare that to a summer fishery, that might be around $5, so basically double the price. … If they harvest it all you’re looking at more than a million dollars difference,” he said.