Returns to Hidden Falls have tapered since opening on Sunday July the 13th when 300k chum were harvested. Openings are continuing but have averaged around 40k adult chum each opening. Hidden Falls will be open this Sunday (7/23) with same lines as this past Thursday. While the returns have tapered quickly since the 23rd we will still most likely surpass 1 million total chum return to Hidden Falls. We continue to make strong progress with chum egg takes at Hidden Falls and are currently at 80 million taken of our 198 million goal and have utilized 100k adults to date. Our estimate is between 80-100k chum remain behind the barrier net and immediately outside of it. We have temporarily closed the barrier net to determine daily recruitment to the bay and allow better estimation of numbers behind the barrier net. Net will likely be reopened on Saturday to acquire the remaining number of brood stock needed to complete egg take. This number is currently estimated to be in the 30k range.
Returns to SE Cove continue to track below forecast and we will most certainly be short of the necessary pounds to complete cost recovery. This shortfall in return numbers combined with the small size of chum salmon this year further compounds the shortfall we expect on our SE Cove cost recovery which may approach $2 million. This coming week is the historical peak for SE Cove returns so there is still hope for significant progress towards our goal. Currently we are at 26% of our SE Cove cost recovery goal. Unfortunately this means there will not be a SE Cove common property opening this year. We are also experiencing very poor chum returns to our Gunnuk Creek hatchery location and are looking at making up the hatchery egg take shortfall at Medvejie and if necessary Hidden Falls.
Deep Inlet chum returns continue to trickle in but we have passed the peak of the return there also. We continue to see an unprecedented number of 3-year old summer chum salmon returning to Deep Inlet and as of the 7/18 GN sample were 62% male and 63% 3-year olds. To date over 250k summer chum have returned and over half have been 3-year olds. The past few days reports of larger, brighter fish have been reported, indicating we are beginning to see the start of the fall chum return to Deep Inlet. We obtained a Sitka Sound Troll chum sample on 7/18 and should have that otolith information available Monday. This sample should be a good indicator of what is on the way to Deep Inlet for the fall chum return.
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