The Alaska pink and chum salmon catch have come in well below their respective statewide forecasts as the season for both winds down.
An update from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on 5 September, 2018, put the total pink catch at just over 32 million fish, nearly identical to the 2016 harvest, a catch that prompted the federal government to free up disaster relief funds for pink fishermen. The statewide forecast for 2018 was nearly 70 million.
The Southeast region’s numbers were particularly grim, notching the lowest pink salmon catch in four decades. According to figures from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Southeast’s total catch of pinks was less than 7.5 million, the region’s lowest since a handful of lean seasons in the mid-1970s. The low catch has fishermen concerned and biologists scratching their heads; the harvest totaled barely one-third of ADF&G’s predicted catch in the region, which was 23 million fish.
ADF&G’s Andy Piston, the region’s project leader for pink and chum salmon, told Alaska radio station KFSK that while the catch was small, managers are hopeful that extensive closures allowed for plenty of escapement into the rivers, and a possible rebound for the next pink run in 2020. Pinks run every two years, on even number years. Biologists speculate that diminished numbers of pink salmon in recent years may be tied to warmer ocean temperatures.
Meanwhile, the chum catch stood at 16.8 million fish of a predicted catch of 21 million fish, and it could have been worse. The slow season got an unexpected shot in the arm last week when fishermen recorded the largest chum opener of all time on Thursday, 30 August. Fishermen south of Sitka scooped up 900,000 chums that day, a boon that paid out USD 6 million (EUR 5.2 million) to the 90 seine boats fishing that day and added up to USD 13 million (EUR 11.2 million) for the first wholesaler, according to figures provided by KFSK.
The Chignik fishery posted the most alarming numbers. The Chignik River, which sits 250 miles south and west of Kodiak, saw such paltry runs that there was only one fishing period that yielded 128 sockeye, 124 chums and just six pinks, according to ADF&G. Alaska Governor Bill Walker declared an economic emergency in the Chignik region, where some 67 permit holders help sustain several small communities with their annual salmon catch.
