King salmon reductions for SE Alaska

[whojigger]

Well, seems like even Alaska will be hurt by the reduced wild stocks of the Pacific NorthWest. I copied an announcement for commercial trollers because it shows the allocation for sport fishing. From what I understand, non-resident sport fishermen will be limited to 1 King a day, 3 annually...for now. It will go down to ONE annual in July/August depending on the catch records. Terminal fisheries (hatchery) fish don't figure in the totals.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced today that under management
provisions of the Pacific Salmon Treaty, the 2008 Southeast Alaska all-gear harvest quota is 170,000
treaty Chinook. This results in a commercial troll fishery pre-season Chinook salmon harvest allocation
of 125,410 fish. These abundance-based harvest levels represent a reduction of approximately 48% from
the 2007 quota.
The all-gear quota is allocated among commercial and sport fisheries according to management plans
established by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. The Chinook salmon allocations specified by gear group are
as follows:
ALLOCATION:
Troll 125,410
Purse seine 7,310
Set and drift gillnet 5,930
Sport 31,350
QUOTA: All-gear 170,000
Trollers are advised that the catch allocations presented here do not include the majority of Stikine River
Chinook salmon that may be harvested in commercial and sport fisheries in District 8. For more
information on this issue, please refer to the news release issued out of the Petersburg office on February
1, 2008.
The reduction in the all-gear quota and the troll allocation will likely result in reduced fishing time and
harvest opportunities for Chinook salmon in the summer troll fishery. However, because we don’t know
what the final harvest of non-Alaska hatchery fish (Treaty fish) will be in the winter and spring fisheries,
the magnitude of any reduced fishing time will not actually be known until just prior to the first summer
season Chinook salmon opening on July 1. The summer troll quota is calculated by subtracting the winter
and spring fishery Treaty Chinook salmon harvest (there is no specific total limit on the number of Treaty
Chinook salmon that may be harvested in the spring fishery) from the annual troll allocation and 70% of
the total summer allocation is targeted in the first summer Chinook salmon opening. In addition, we do
not know if the first summer opening will be managed inseason rather than for a fixed number of days
and that decision will also be announced just prior to the July 1 opening.

[tpbrady]

I guess you have to live there to understand it. We see some of the same prose from the Dept of F&G further north. This is somewhat unique because of all the questions someone from outside could ask.

What is a treaty salmon? Did the salmon sign the treaty? How can you identify a treaty salmon? Do treaty salmon have a specific reservation they live on? Being it is Alaska, the treaty salmon are probably shareholders in a corporation with 8A status. Do they have preferential bidding rights on Federal contracts?

Isn't it unique how we can take the simple act of fishing, and turn into a mental exercise more like what we are trying to escape by fishing, in other words, work.

[whojigger]

There is a terminal on both sides of Ketchikan so the haul won't be as bad as it sounds. The cruise around Revilla should be good. New fishery up Canoe Pass should keep fish hitting like the Mariners Ibanez`up near Wrangle. Plenty to offer all the way around POW. By then the silvers should be hitting if predictions are right. No matter, lots of pinks in the mix so fishing should be good if not hot. I just heard that it will take a 48 incher to take home by mid season (summer) which makes them a tyee at 40+ pounds if things don't improve. So far, the commercial troll is way low of their catch, so maybe things will look good if the Nancy H comes up for a visit. We live, we die, we feed and get fed on. The Whojigger.