Commercial troll season for kings closed July 8

Commercial trolling for king salmon closed July 8 in Southeast Alaska after an eight-day opening.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported July 8 that it expected trollers would reach their harvest target for the first chinook salmon retention period of the summer of 66,700 kings.

The fishery opened July 1.

The department manages the first summer chinook retention period to harvest 70% of trollers’ allocation of about 92,400 treaty salmon for the summer fishery. Trollers will be able to catch the remainder of their chinook allocation during a second opener, which will follow any closure of the troll fishery for coho and will begin no later than Aug. 20.

Catch for migratory “treaty” chinook is allocated between the U.S. and Canada by Pacific Salmon Treaty commissioners and regulated for gear groups and areas in Alaska by the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

More than 400 Southeast Alaska trollers reported chinook catches in the July opening. Harvest of 10,600 coho and 32,600 chum also were reported on fish tickets since July 1, according to Fish and Game.

Trollers are earning an average price of $5.97 per pound for chinook, $1.04 per pound for coho and 46 cents per pound for chum. Average weights per fish are 10.9 pounds for chinook, 4.9 pounds for coho and 9.1 pounds for chum salmon, according to Fish and Game.

At about this time last year, trollers were earning an average of $5.90 per pound for chinook, $1.57 for coho and 40 cents per pound for chum salmon, the department reported.