Trnaround
2012-04-07 16:51:36
The Pacific Fishery Management Council set the Chinook quota at 51,000 fish, nearly 18,000 more than last year. ??
Hi All:
The very short answer to a very long topic is that the WA/OR/CA fleets catch a different mix of stocks than we do in Alaska. CA is so different that they are not part of the Pacific Salmon Treaty (Treaty), and there are no Treaty quotas for the southern US fisheries - only Alaska and Canada. PFMC quotas are calculated using a different model than we use at Treaty.
So, while some of the stocks that the southern fleets harvest are the same, the PFMC quotas are based on a lot of stocks that aren't found in large numbers in the Alaska fishery. Also, for a great many reasons, the far north migrating stocks that we harvest up here often perform differently than those that stay closer to WA/OR during their lifecycle. Sometimes we can have incredible abundance in the north while they scratch for fish in the south, and vis-a-versa.
Shouldn't you be doing boat work?=)
Dale
ATA
Trnaround
2012-04-07 21:09:54
Dale thanks for your input in helping those understand why they will be catching fewer fish this season. Actually I never stop doing boat work but thanks for the advice.
salmon4u
2012-04-08 01:39:42
.. my prediction is that the abundance of kings in SE this summer is going to be amazing, trollers trying to fish coho will be shaking kings as much or more than last year, a huge waste. No science, just a prediction... and I expect governing officials even when faced with the fact of a large abundance of kings, will refuse to do an "in season adjustment"
Salty
2012-04-12 16:13:29
Experienced trollers in SE Alaska shake very few Chinook when targeting other salmon. Change your gear, location, depth, or get out of the fishery. By-catch issues are a serious problem in many fisheries, particularly trawl fisheries. They are not and should not be in the troll fishery. We can make adjustments and experience extremely low by-catch when trolling salmon.
carojae
2012-04-12 16:31:52
It seems to me that all other "Treaty participants" enjoy options for more fish if they become available. Alaska, on the other hand........
Jim
Noseclip
2012-04-12 22:12:50
I agree with Salty that Chinook bycatch is not a big issue for experienced Alaska trollers. There are methods to achieve high selectivity for targeted fish, including but not limited to relocating your efforts elsewhere. Maybe this should be a forum topic sometime.....
salmon4u
2012-04-13 06:04:11
Myself, I do all of the above, change gear, depth, leave areas when there's an abundance of kings that sometimes bite coho gear. If hooked they are carefully released and rarely killed. It's just my wish that trollers would be allowed to keep a reasonable number of kings when they're obviously available. I imagine if a troller was in a bay most of the summer fishing chums you'd hardly have any king bycatch at all. It seems like that might be what the future holds but loses some of the magic in trolling many have enjoyed through the years... but what the heck, still better than a desk job I guess. good luck this season everyone
Kelper
2012-04-13 14:27:54
I couldn't agree more. Extremely frustrating to hear trollers bragging about catch and release scores on kings, after kings are shut down. I understand that some days you just run into a school or two of kings while coho fishing... but to stay in a small area and catch and release 50-80 kings a day, to catch 50 cohos a day? Come on!