Deep Inlet will be closed July 7th for the seine rotation. This is a drastic action due to Hidden Falls run collapse. We will close until we have approximately 40,000 chum at or near the head of Deep Inlet. Chum will be collected with seine gear and rolled into two net pens for a total of 24,000 brood fish of the Hidden Falls stock. Excess chum at the head of Deep Inlet may be harvested for cost recovery to lessen the burden in August, but the goal is to collect the brood fish and get Deep Inlet open as quickly as possible.
Brood fish will be towed to Medvejie hatchery and held for two weeks or so, and then a portion will be rolled behind a barrier net to make sure they ascend the ladder to the raceways for spawning. Spawning is likely to begin July 25th and continue for a week.
This action will reduce the demand for broodstock at Hidden Falls from 180 million eggs to 156 million eggs. Other backup sources in line are DIPAC (20 million), Pt Armstrong (having a very poor year), and Gunnuk Creek (lots of problems with this due to state ownership of building, weir, and the chum salmon). Our desired outcome is that Hidden Falls perks up. One piece of good news is the Hawk Inlet test fishery today (July 1) was 116% of ten year average for chum salmon, last week it was almost non existent. This might mean there are some chum in the pipeline.
Due to the HF collapse NSRAA will be nearly a million dollars short in revenue, and therefore an additional block of Deep Inlet chum may be bid out for harvest in August. This is a difficult situation for all fishermen. NSRAA will do its best to collect the broodstock and later the cost recovery harvest with as little disruption to the fishery as possible. Thank you for your understanding.
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