The 2012 salmon season is here! Many people consider “Copper River Reds” the first salmon the season, but southeast fishermen get a chance to start today.! The Taku and the Stikine are open for a one day King salmon gilnett fishery. Southeast trollers also get a chance at the early kings this year too. Good luck to all! Let’s hope the season starts with a bang! Enjoy the youtube pick of last year’s gilnett season in southeast. I kinda like the disco beats in the video, too!
Commercial Gillnetters and trollers in the Petersburg and Wrangell area will be targeting king salmon in the marine waters near the Stikine River starting early next week. The District 8 king season was closed for the previous three years because the Stikine runs were not big enough. This year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is projecting nearly 41 thousand large kings will return, which is enough for a commercial harvest.
Area management biologist Troy Thynes says, ” “Now in terms of this forecast, it’s probably, over the long term, about an average size king salmon run for the Stikine River. In short term, its actually under average because we’ve had some very large returns in the early 2000’s……What we’ve seen here is this forecast, compared to past years, is is above the last three years pre-season forecast and pretty similar to the 2007 and 2008 forecast.”
The Stikine River king salmon run is shared between Alaska and Canada under the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Based on the pre-season forecast, Alaska is allowed a total catch of just under 59 hundred kings including commercial and sport landings. Canada’s share is about 68 hundred fish.
Alaska’s target could change later this month when the state comes up with an in-season forecast based on actual returns to the river
Related articles
- Salmon Summery | Looking Back and Pushing Forward (juneautek.com)
- Banner year expected for local salmon (sfgate.com)
- Southeast Salmon | The Biggest Story No One Is Talking About (juneautek.com)
- King salmon numbers could recover in Yukon (cbc.ca)
- Symphony of Seafoods 2012 Winners | Taste Alaska’s Best (juneautek.com)
- Internet Bycatch | Hatcheries vs. Wild Salmon – NYTimes.com (juneautek.com)