Although Alaskan state biologists predicted a harvest of more than a million sockeye salmon from the Copper River this season, only around 25,000 sockeye were commercially harvested in in May, with 7,000 king salmon being harvested during the same period.
This year’s harvest is currently the second-lowest in the last 50 years. Sport and dipnet fishing has been shut down on the river since 13 June, and commercial fishing has been closed since three brief periods in mid-May. At the beginning of July, Alaskan state government officials, including Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott, met with Yukon River communities to discuss the cause of dwindling salmon returns in some fisheries, as well as the effect on the communities, many of which have traditionally subsisted on salmon fishing as a means of survival
”What is happening in terms of weather patterns? What is happening in terms of water temperature changes? And those became part of the discussion this year,” Mallott said, according to Alaska Public Radio. “Temperature changes that have been affecting the Gulf of Alaska and the North Pacific Ocean… the Bering Sea and into the Arctic, so there is need for research there.”
Alaska’s most recently passed state budget included increased funding for salmon research.
At the same time, the Bristol Bay is poised to have another record-breaking year after last year’s unprecedented numbers. State officials predicted a harvest of 18.5 million sockeye which would set a new record. Unlike at Copper River, estimates are looking to be accurate. On Monday, 2 July, a new daily record of 1.77 million sockeye was set in the Nushagak District of Bristol Bay. Of the three rivers that make up the Nushagak District (the Nushagak, Igushik, and Wood), the Wood River is expected to account for the majority of the harvest at 10.4 million fish, or just over half of the overall expected harvest of 18.5 million.
Photo courtesy of Katrina Mueller/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
