Deep Inlet update Fri 8/13
The fall chum catch in Deep Inlet has remained strong since the uptick in gillnet catch Monday morning through the Friday seine rotation. Initial indications are the gillnet catch will surpass 35k fish for M-W and the Th-F seine catch will almost certainly top 100k fish. There have been reports that Friday afternoon the seine catch had slowed but still is an impressive build from the extremely bleak stat week 32. The Tuesday 8/11 gillnet catch was 67% male with a 60% 4-year old component and 39% 3-year olds. We will be sampling the Th-F and Sun seine catch to see if the sex ration and...
Read MoreWK 32 Return Update
Returns through week 32 for fall chum salmon continued to be weak to Deep Inlet despite significant troll interception in the Sitka Sound troll fishery totaling 57k fish in week 32. With the change in weather over the past weekend some of the volume in Sitka Sound has begun to make it into Deep Inlet and the gillnet fleet. The gillnet fishery is still ongoing today but there has been a significant increase in the catch from last week starting Monday and continuing through today (Wednesday) and by far will be the largest weekly gillnet catch of the season. Additionally another 23k troll...
Read MoreWK 31 Return Update
Returns in stat week 31 continued to be poor and below forecast for fall chum salmon at Deep Inlet. Historically stat week 31 is when the fall chum run catch begins to increase at Deep Inlet. This past week in stat wk 31 the catch actually dropped from week 30. Beginning on Saturday, July 31, strong troll catches of chum started to develop in Sitka Sound and continued into the first few days of the current stat week 32. There was considerable troll effort in the sound Monday through today but indications are per boat catch has dropped with the increased effort and change from calm sunny...
Read MoreWK 30 Return Update
Summer chum egg takes are well underway at Hidden Falls, Gunnuk Creek and Medvejie hatchery. By Wednesday we are 75% complete at Hidden Falls, 50% complete at Gunnuk Creek and 40% complete at Medvejie. Currently Medvejie appears to be on the tail end of their summer chum recruitment and will like be short of their 30m goal by ~8m. Both Hidden Falls and Gunnuk Creek look like our pre-season brood stock escapement goals will be met. Unfortunately both of those facilities are running greater than 60% male, which on a normal year would indicate we are less than halfway through the return. ...
Read MoreWK 29 Return Update
Returns of summer chum to NSRAA remote release sites through stat week 29 continues to be poor and all indications to date are that we will be at or well below the low range of our preseason summer chum forecast. Catches at Thomas Bay and SE Cove this past week, were weak with few boats at each site. The only positive indicator is that both sites are still running above 55% male but the combined cumulative catch to date of the two is less than 50k fish total. We continue to see a slow building of chum at Gunnuk Creek and yesterday was the first day NSRAA has had the fish ladder on and...
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