News and Events

Fishery Update June 28, 2019

Posted by Steve Reifenstuhl on Jun 28, 2019 in news | 0 comments

Hidden Falls will not open Sunday June 30. Chum runs throughout SE Alaska are late or weak, or both and Hidden Falls is no exception. We have had 4 openings, two each week and the catch has been poor, about 10,500 total chum. The sex ratio is 69% male, 9.5 lb average weight, and 82% four year olds, all of which suggest we are early in the run but it doesn’t provide a guide to the magnitude of the run. Given the chum program needs 200,000 brood fish to perpetuate the on-site and off-site chum programs, the only prudent action is to cease fishing until we have high certainty of attaining that goal.

In 2018, I provided a 5th opening based on a stronger than expected return and relatively high male ratio, but that one opening was a mistake as it was instrumental in not having sufficient chum for broodstock. Last year was the first time the egg goal was not attained at Hidden Falls. The NSRAA board was informed that harvest management would necessarily need to be more conservative in 2019.

Deep Inlet is seeing even worse chum returns this year. Only chinook are performing well on the Sitka side of Baranof Island.

Next week is the make or break week for Hidden Falls and Deep Inlet. In ’98, ’99, & ’00 less than 10,000 chum had been harvested by the end of the current stat week. However, in week 27 the run took a dramatic turn each year and finished with 2.2M, 2.7M, and 3.1M respectively. Not expecting that to happen, but it is to say in short order things can change dramatically .

We expect to keep SE Cove open through Thursday July 4 for common property openings, at which time it will be closed for cost recovery.

Chum Return Update June 25, 2019

Posted by Steve Reifenstuhl on Jun 25, 2019 in news | 0 comments

The summer run chum are off to a slow start from Ketchikan to Juneau to Sitka, although the Lynn Canal gillnet catch picked up on Monday after a slow start on Sunday. Seine and gillnet catches elsewhere were poor to non-existent on Sunday. DIPAC often has the earliest chums of the year in southeast so perhaps this is the beginning.

The runs at Southeast Cove and Hidden Falls will be evaluated for sex ratio and age on Friday, but in all likelihood both sites will be open on Sunday June 30. If the Hidden Falls run does not develop by next Sunday, it will need to be closed to protect broodstock. SE Cove on the other hand might remain open, and will be decided in consultation with Trident Seafoods who have the cost recovery contract for SE Cove SHA.

Some analysis and speculation: Prince William Sound is seeing good chum returns to all three of their sites. This is not usual as two of the release locations have under-performed for several years. Each of the PWS sites are ahead of their run curve, although fish are small (<6 lbs./average). Sometimes PWS is predictive of SE chum which are several weeks later in run timing, although 2019 doesn’t seem to be one of those years. So far in SE Alaska we are seeing normal size and healthy chum, just not many of them. Last week, the Homeshore troll fishery was the first indication of chum coming through the Icy Strait cooridor, although they didn’t show up in Lynn Canal until Monday.

Are the fish late, under forecast, or did they die at sea this past year? Given the new information in Lynn Canal, I’ll say late. If late, and DIPAC is any indication there should see a small uptick in harvest on Thursday at all the NSRAA sites.

Final thought: Some may have read that Dr. Dick Beamish, Department of Fisheries & Oceans Canada (DFO) organized an international effort this past winter to sample salmon in the vast areas of the North Pacific Ocean. Preliminary results were an abundance of skinny chum and sparse but robust sockeye in their sampling at multiple sample locations. Based on PWS chum return so far, it appears this Russian research cruise vessel got into the PWS chum at sea, but maybe not the SE chum. Much more information is pending as they conduct otolith and genetic analysis to determine origin of stocks.

NSRAA 2019 Spring Board Meeting

Posted by Chip Blair on Jan 14, 2019 in news, schedule | 0 comments

NSRAA’s 2019 Spring Board of Directors Meeting will be held on Monday and Tuesday, March 4-5, 2019 in Sitka in the NSRAA Board Room. Meetings begin at 9 am each day. The public is invited to attend.

Topics will include reviewing the NSRAA FY20 budget, program updates, and planning for the 2019 season and beyond. The meeting agenda will be posted in early February.

NSRAA Fall 2018 Board of Directors Meeting

Posted by Chip Blair on Nov 12, 2018 in news, schedule | 0 comments

NSRAA’s 2018 Fall Board of Directors Meeting will be held on Wednesday & Thursday, November 14-15, 2018 in Sitka in the NSRAA Board Room. Meetings begin at 9 am each day. The public is invited to attend.

Topics will include a review of the 2018 season, program updates, a discussion of the proposed NOAA Little Port Walter Public/Private Partenership, a Pacific Salmon Treaty update, and planning for the 2019 season – including Crawfish Inlet management. Click here for the meeting agenda.

Crawfish Inlet SHA to Open Sept. 13

Posted by Steve Reifenstuhl on Sep 10, 2018 in news | 0 comments

There will be a common property seine opening at Crawfish Inlet on Thursday September 13th. Look for the official ADF&G announcement on Tuesday September 11th. I expect there will be one or two additional openings to clean up the tail-end of the run (announcement possibly on Friday, September 14th). Cost recovery is expected to harvest <one million pounds total between today and Tuesday with no cost recovery on Wednesday.

The run to date is just over 3 million fish; 1.6 million have been harvested by the seine fleet and 220,000 by the troll fleet. Approximately 480,000 chum were caught on the past Thursday opening.

As most people are aware this run is an anomaly in several regards. Broodyear (BY) ’14 had 184,000 3s return in 2017 (1.4% marine survival) which was a very, very good survival. The 4s from that year (BY’14) also survived well with 501,000 4s so far, or 2.7 fours for each three year old. Adding the 3s and 4s from BY ’14 yields a 5.1% marine survival (that will go up with next year’s 5s). All this is very good but not an anomaly.

Broodyear ’15 chum return this year as 3’s is off the chart! 2.5 million chum have returned in 2018 as 3’s. This represents 9.1% marine survival just for 3’s. I would call that Anomaly 1. The proportion of male to female is unusual as well. We do not have the weighted average complete but it appears the male ratio will be on the order of 70%, or Anomaly 2. The high male ratio is being driven by Age 3’s, although in the past week 53% of the harvest has been female, both 3’s and 4’s.

So what happens next year? What will the forecast be? This will be difficult to predict given Anomalies 1 & 2.  Even if we used 2.7:1 or the ratio of 4’s to 3’s we saw for the BY’14 return the forecast would seem improbable or 2.7 x 2.5 million 3’s = 6,750,000 4’s plus additional chum for BY’16 3’s and BY’14 5’s. It seems fairly certain there will be a lot of chum at Crawfish Inlet in 2019.

The NSRAA board will be discussing a management plan for Crawfish at its November 14 & 15, 2018 board meeting. It is unlikely NSRAA will need to conduct cost recovery at Crawfish Inlet in 2019. Trollers will continue to have a preference in Crawfish Inlet, but given the magnitude of this year’s return there will need to be a minimum of one seine opening per week in the early and late segments of the run, and two openings during the peak weeks to maintain high quality fish throughout the run.

Finally, NSRAA has two seine seats, as well as four other gear seats, expiring in November, with nominations due on November 14th at 5 pm. The election count will be conducted in February with winners being seated at the March 2019 board meeting. Please take an active roll in your organization.