Fishery Update July 9, 2019

Medvejie Chinook – the initial tags show that Medvejie chinook were well represented in the summer troll fishery. We have seen good catches in the Deep Inlet seine/gillnet fisheries (2,800) and decent numbers back to the hatchery (6,000).

NSRAA Chum/SE Chum – What we know – the run is late; late & small or late & moderate? It will take another week to know the answer. The chum harvested at SE Cove and Deep Inlet are bright, 85% good meat color, robust, 65 to 70% male, and >8 pound average. These parameters all suggest early in the run curve. The chum returns in SE Alaska are all behind the historical run curve and there is some reasoning or wishful thinking that a moderate run could still materialize.

In addition to sample parameters, the roe percentage is at the low end of the scale – 3%. At the end of the run the roe percent is usually 8 or 9%. During the summer Chinook troll fishery, the Chinook were far off shore in 70 fathoms of water, an environment where there was abundant feed. Trollers caught fair numbers of chum while king fishing at the 70 fathom mark. Other indicators that some chum are still on the march – July 7th Pt. Augusta seine opening had decent numbers of chum, fishermen are reporting chum at the Fairweather grounds and Icy Strait, and best of all for the SE Cove SHA is that the Kings Mill test fishery maxed-out in 6 sets and 98% were chum salmon. The return at SE Cove is roughly 6 times the volume of 2018 at this date. This may be the brightest spot for chum in southeast Alaska.

Hidden Falls Chum – Aerial observations put the number of chum within the THA at >100,000 fish. Broodstock requirement is 200,000 chum which is used to fulfill program objectives at SE Cove, Gunnuk Creek, Thomas Bay, Deep Inlet, and Hidden Falls/Takatz. In order to get more information on sex ratio, stock performance, abundance by area, and age structure NSRAA has contracted with North Pacific Seafoods to troll harvest one or two thousand chum in the HF THA on July 11-13. Historically, broodstock fish begin pushing the barrier net and the inner bay about mid-July. With some good fortune we could have a fair portion of our broodstock secure by July 20 wdhich would allow NSRAA to open a portion of the THA.

Deep Inlet Chum – The summer run chum are performing quite poorly at Deep Inlet. There was a small bump in the catch on July 9 and a few hundred chum caught in the Redoubt seine opening on July 7th.