Tag: chinook

Tens of Thousands of Chinook Salmon Discarded as Bycatch in Canadian Trawl Fishery: DFO Report
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Tens of Thousands of Chinook Salmon Discarded as Bycatch in Canadian Trawl Fishery: DFO Report

A new report from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) confirms that an estimated 28,117 salmon were caught and discarded as bycatch in the groundfish trawl fishery off the coast of British Columbia in the 2022-2023 fishing season, including some 26,273 Chinook salmon. The DFO report, released Jan. 22, said that over 20,000 Chinook salmon were likely thrown overboard, while 3,700 were landed and subsequently discarded as waste. The discard of the Chinooks, a major food source for a remaining 75 endangered Southern Resident killer whales, comes as the Canadian government is investing millions of dollars into protecting Southern Resident orca whales, plus millions of dollars to support wild salmon. “The is an appalling waste for not just a salmon species that is listed as threatene...
Unalaska, Tribal Entities at Odds Over Chinook Salmon Bycatch
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Unalaska, Tribal Entities at Odds Over Chinook Salmon Bycatch

Increasingly low returns of prized Chinook salmon in Alaska have become a hot new point of contention between the city of Unalaska and tribal entities calling for a cap of zero king salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) advised the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) on Jan. 28 that six tribal entities have asked NMFS to begin an emergency rulemaking under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) that would halt the bycatch of Chinook salmon in the Bering Sea pollock travel fishery. The NMFS has urged the NPFMC to review the request and provide input. If the council does not review the request, NMFS is expected to independently review it consistent with section 305(c) (1) of the MSA,...
2023 Runs to All Bristol Bay Districts Exceed Forecasts
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2023 Runs to All Bristol Bay Districts Exceed Forecasts

Preliminary data compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game show that the run of sockeye salmon run to Bristol Bay in 2023 was 54.5 million fish, with runs to every district within this easternmost arm of the Bering Sea exceeding preseason forecasts. Data show that the run itself was the eighth largest inshore run since 2003 and 17% above the 46.7 million average run for the latest 20-year period, stretching from 2003 to 2022. All sockeye salmon escapement goals were met or exceeded, with a total bay-wide escapement of 13.9 million fish, according to the preliminary document issued on Sept. 22. The ex-vessel value of salmon harvested in Bristol Bay in 2023, calculated by using the fish ticket weight and price paid for each species, totaled $117.4 million for all salmon...
Alaska Files New Appeal in Litigation over Southeast Alaska Chinook Salmon Fishery
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Alaska Files New Appeal in Litigation over Southeast Alaska Chinook Salmon Fishery

Alaska officials have filed a new motion with the Ninth Circuit Court for a stay of the district court’s vacatur order of the incidental take statement (ITS) for the Southeast Alaska winter and summer commercial Chinook salmon troll fishery. That action this past week (May 26) came on the heels of U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones’s decision denying the state’s request for a stay of his May 2 order vacating the ITS for the fisheries. That order has the practical effect of closing those two fisheries, which are vital to the Southeast Alaska economy, until a new ITS is in place. The litigation began when the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) in Seattle sued National Marine Fisheries Service, alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. The prim...
Oregon Gov. Asks Commerce Dept. for Expedited Fisheries Disaster Declaration
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Oregon Gov. Asks Commerce Dept. for Expedited Fisheries Disaster Declaration

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is asking the Department of Commerce for an expedited declaration of a federal fishery resource disaster, in the wake of a federal fisheries managers’ recommendation to close all commercial ocean fisheries for Chinook salmon from Cape Falcon to the California border. Due to recent droughts, returns of Chinook salmon to the Sacramento and Klamath rivers are expected to be very low this year. Anticipating drought-related impacts on salmon spawning, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is expected to close commercial ocean fisheries for Chinooks from Cape Falcon on the north Oregon coast to the California border through August. Biologists with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have forecast an 82% reduction in the ex-vessel value of commercial troll...
ADF&G Sets 2023 Annual Harvest Allocation for Chinook Troll Fishery
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ADF&G Sets 2023 Annual Harvest Allocation for Chinook Troll Fishery

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) on March 30 set the 2023 all-gear allowable harvest limit for Southeast Alaska/Yakutat (SEAK) under Chinook salmon management provisions of the 2019-2028 Pacific Salmon Treaty Agreement at 201,900 treaty Chinook salmon. The 2% reduction from last year’s allocation is to serve as a buffer against exceeding the all-gear limit and payback provisions within the treaty. The resulting 2023 troll harvest allocation for this year will be 149,100 Chinooks, which is 44,100 fish less that the preseason limit that was available in 2022. ADF&G also said annual catch limits for the SEAK Chinook fishery would be established using measures of Chinook abundance, using the catch per unit effort from the winter power troll fishery in District 113 dur...
Bristol Bay Chinook Issues On Tape for Alaska Board of Fisheries Meeting
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Bristol Bay Chinook Issues On Tape for Alaska Board of Fisheries Meeting

The Alaska Board of Fisheries is scheduled to take up statewide finfish issues, including an amended plan for managing Chinook salmon in the Nushagak-Mulchatna rivers of Southwest Alaska, when the board meets in Anchorage from March 10-14. Statewide declines in salmon stocks in several area, including the Nushagak Chinook stocks of concern, have been an increasing topic of discussion among fisheries managers, who are researching multiple related issues ranging from warming ocean waters to the nutritional values of changes in the predator-prey relationships of fish and sea mammals. Proposal 11 on the agenda for the board of fisheries meeting identifies several specific management objectives, including consistent sport fishing opportunity and a directed commercial king salmon fishery pro...
Thiamine Deficiency Eyed as Link to Poor Returns of Western Alaska Chinooks
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Thiamine Deficiency Eyed as Link to Poor Returns of Western Alaska Chinooks

A report from the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) says thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency may play an important role in poor returns of western Alaska Chinook salmon. The report in the January 2023 edition of the NPAFC newsletter notes that thiamine deficiency causes abnormal neuromuscular signs and mortality in fish consuming diets lacking thiamine or containing thiaminase, an enzyme that destroys thiamine. The thiaminase enzyme has been found in high levels in certain small pelagic forage fishes that are common prey for juvenile and maturing Chinook. Diets high in thiaminase have been shown to be associated with depressed thiamine concentrations in the predator species, says the article’s author, research biologist Wesley Strasburger of the Alaska Fisheries Science Ce...
NOAA Examines Poor Chinook, Chum Salmon Runs in Alaska
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NOAA Examines Poor Chinook, Chum Salmon Runs in Alaska

An updated research report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is providing new insight into historically poor chinook and chum salmon runs in Alaska. A report published in early December in SeafoodSource says the latest research from NOAA indicates poor diet, changes in metabolism and increases in parasitic infection are contributing to poor runs of chinook salmon in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. Those factors plus warming water temperatures are proving disastrous to salmon and people dependent on them. Scientists have observed that in warm water conditions fish typically grow faster and need more food to survive the winter. The fish are also maturing at an earlier age, resulting in them producing fewer eggs, according to the report. NOAA has conducted s...
2022 Alaska Salmon Harvest Valued at $720M
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2022 Alaska Salmon Harvest Valued at $720M

A preliminary commercial harvest summary recently issued by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game puts the value of 160.7 million salmon caught in 2022 at $720.4 million, compared to the 2021 harvest of 233.8 million salmon harvested. The 31% decrease in the total harvest is explained by the relatively low pink salmon run size in 2022, a consistent trend for even-numbered years over the last decade, ADF&G biologists said in their mid-November report. The 2022 total harvest sockeyes accounted for 66% of the total value of $473.8 million and 47% of the harvest of 74.8 million fish.  Chum salmon, numbering 14.9 million, contributed 15% of the overall value at $110.6 million. Coho salmon made up about 2% of the value $15 million and 1% of the harvest at 1.6 million fish, while the...