Chum salmon have played a huge part in this season’s west coast salmon tally. Commercial Purse seining and gill netting for salmon continues into the end of November in Puget Sound. The price is less than expected at around 80 cents. Typically the late season Puget Sound chum fetch a higher price than the Alaskan varieties. However, this season’s Puget Sound chum salmon is nearly 40 cents less than last season’s average price. Luckily, the run was upgraded this season to 550,000 fish. All in all, it should make for a good pay-day. The average crew share should be about 6000 dollars for about 8 actual days of fishing. Good luck to all the captains and crews in this year’s fishery! Here’s a few pics from my one day season last year in the sound on the F/V Quandary.
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It looks like the South Sound chum salmon return is much bigger than forecasted.
A story by the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission reports that a tribal test fishery conducted near Kingston in October and November revealed the run is stronger, which is good news for all fishermen who pursue these late arriving fish.
The preseason forecast in southern Puget Sound was about 200,000 chum, but fisheries managers have updated the run size estimate to 550,000.
To view the story on the South Sound tribal chum salmon test fishery go to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commisssion website
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