July 9th-Return Update

Chum returns through this Friday (July 8^th) continue to be extremely weak. While we were not anticipating any strong summer chum returns to our project sites, the numbers to date are significantly behind our forecast for this date. Total cumulative combined summer chum catch to date, for all NSRAA return areas, is less than 20,000 fish. This is approximately 20% of the 2021 catch for the same time period. While there is always hope that it may be a late run, it is looking more and more likely that it is a late and weak run. This past week there have been increases in catch at all our terminal areas which is a good sign but none of the increases were substantial.  Sex ratios on summer chum continue to suggest we are in the front half portion of the run, with recent samples at all sites above 60% male. We will need a large change to occur this coming week to even be able to approach our forecasted numbers on summer chum.

This past week we were able to get a sample of chum bycatch caught during the summer King salmon troll opener.  From our samples obtained from the northern outside areas there are still a majority of summer chum out there, with the largest proportion being DIPAC, followed closely by Hidden Falls. This gives me some hope that we are still in the early portion of the return to Hidden Falls, as the first 3 weekly test fishing results have been very poor. Additionally, all the Hawk Inlet, Point Gardner and Kingsmill ADFG weekly test fishing results have been similarly dismal for both pinks and chum.

We will be sampling and watching the catch results closely from this Sundays seine openings at SE Cove, Thomas Bay and Augusta to see if the increasing chum catch trend continues. We are also going to be conducting our weekly Hidden Falls test fishing Tuesday morning. Based upon that information we will begin assessing if a closure for summer chum brood stock will be necessary. The location that could potentially be closed to harvest would be SE Cove, with the earliest closure beginning on Sunday July, 17^th. We will be posting additional information on returns and on potential closures Wednesday of next week.