Through to the end of July, the Copper River District’s commercial salmon fishery was open 756 hours, 96 hours more than the recent 10-year average. However, the sockeye salmon harvest of 1.14 million fish was 22 percent less than the previous 10-year (2006–2015) harvest average of 1.46 million sockeye salmon, according to the latest 2016 Prince William Sound Salmon Season Summary issued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).
At the same time, the average sockeye salmon weight of 5.3 pounds was the second smallest on record, and the number of wild sockeye salmon in the Copper River District commercial common property fishery (CCPF) harvest was 968,000 or 85 percent of the average.
The Copper River District’s commercial salmon fishing season began on 16 May, with a preseason commercial harvest forecast of 21,000 chinook, 1.62 million sockeye and 201,000 coho.
Gulkana Hatchery’s contribution to the sockeye salmon CCPF was 153,000 fish or 13 percent of the harvest. Main Bay Hatchery contributed 16,800 fish, or 2 percent of the Copper River harvest.
The CCPF harvest of 11,600 chinook was below the previous 10-year (2006–2015) average harvest of 17,200. The season total coho commercial harvest of 365,000 fish was nearly double the previous 10-year (2006–2015) average harvest of 201,000 coho.
The 2016 preliminary sonar in-river estimate was 802,000 salmon and was within the 712,000–1,100,000 salmon range of the in-river goal. Spawning escapement to Copper River delta systems based on aerial survey indices was 51,600 sockeye, and was below the sustainable escapement goal (SEG) range of 55,000-130,000 fish. However, ADF&G said pilot availability and poor survey conditions likely contributed to the lower counts and it is likely that the goal was achieved.
Coho spawning escapement to the Copper River Delta based on aerial survey indices was 65,700 and was within the SEG range of 32,000–67,000 fish. Preliminary estimates of in-river chinook abundance indicate that spawning escapement was below the lower bound SEG of 24,000 fish.
Overall, the 2016 Prince William Sound (PWS) Area commercial salmon harvest was 19.13 million fish. The harvest comprised 13.27 million pinks, 1.94 million sockeye, 3.43 million chum, 478,000 coho and 12,000 chinook.
The harvest included 13.67 million (71.5 percent) CCPF and 5.46 million (28.5 percent) hatchery cost recovery and broodstock fish.
