Alaska King Salmon Closures

[FISHEYE]

For those coming to Alaska this summer to catch a king salmon, you might want to check out the emergency orders closing many rivers and make other plans. King salmon runs have crashed all over Alaska.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingSportFishingInfo.eonr

[Darian]

Sorry to hear about the Salmon situation up there. The last I read, NMFS had estimated a substantially larger run of King Salmon for most of the rivers on the Pacific coast. As a result, commercial/recreational Salmon fishing has resumed. I just assumed the same would apply up there. This makes me wonder how accurate their information is.... :confused:

[FISHEYE]

Darian, I posted this on Blantonville. Some speculation but lots of experts are saying something similar.

I think there are two primary factors:

1. Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) which is a cyclic condition where the northern ocean (Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska) is too cold. This means fish do not survive very well because they starve. This favors fish from Oregon, Washington and CA.

2. Trawl Bycatch- estimates are 60,000 to 90,000 Alaska king salmon per year.

[Darian]

WOW!!! Those by-catch figures are pretty high. Is there any prospect of reducing the impact of the trawl fishery on Salmon and other species (and you income)???.... :confused:

[loose_shoes]

This is from a friend who lives in SE Alaska and who is very much connected with all things "fishing" in Alaska - sport and commercial. My edits in brackets <>.

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King salmon have been in a marked decline throughout their entire range of the northern Pacific for 5 - 10 years. Many systems have further local problems, man made, humpback whales up 7% per year, sea lions, etc that can make a major dent here and there.

And there are seasonal variations in weather which is definitely a factor
this year.

Most of Alaska had twice the normal snowfall, and was typical March weather
from mid April to June - 5 - 10 degrees colder than normal. So it's not
surprising the runs are late, but that doesn't mean they are coming.

The Kenai early king run hasn't shown up yet, nor have their sockeyes. They
have a lot of specific date related escapement trigger numbers on the Kenai
so late run of the early kings makes for a major closure. They might not
show at all, who knows.

<SNIP> (Minor rant on a particular regional 'advocacy' group deleted)

Copper river kings were about three weeks late, but are coming in now, while their sockeye have been about four times the normal numbers.

The <king salmon in our area> were absent from when we expected them at the start of June, until this week. Were not exactly in 'em thick but I hooked
one Monday (the only tide I've fished this week), and <local_dude #1> caught three on Tuesday (haven't heard yet about yesterday). Before that we've been fishing quite a bit to "be the story, not hear the story" when they arrive. <local_dude #1> and <local_dude #2> were in his boat in <someplace> and were suddenly in the middle of a pod of 30-40 orcas, jumping around etc. They really puts the fish down (down their mouths).

[caniretireyet?]

Not knowing AK well, I wonder what this bodes for later runs, especially silvers in August. I have a trip planned and hope the whole season isn't a blow out. Any thoughts?

Steve

[JD]

Interesting question caniretireyet. Can't speak to the conditions in AK specifically, but I seem to remember a talk by a fisheries biologist that outlined how ocean conditions that favor kings are unfavorable to coho, and vice-versa (I believe it had to do with uplift and different feeding patterns, but you would have to look that up). Could be a good year for silvers, despite the closure, but hopefully someone with experience can chime in.

[FISHEYE]

Alaska Daily News article:

http://www.adn.com/2012/06/23/2517571/decline-in-king-salmon-is-rooted.html

Last year southcentral steelhead and coho returns were very poor. Both are also on the decline it seems.