Rumors - Forums Archive

paavoc

2008-02-13 07:59:06

I troll Oregon. Sacramento River stocks collapsed for the first time in 35 years, probably, in my opinion, due to extreme water diversion from the delta approaching 7 million acre feet. Nonetheless we are hoping for a small season north of the OR/CA border anyway, but nothing good. Nothing will be decided until the april PFMC meeting, but any fishery at all will probably require some fancy regulatory footwork. Last year, there were very few fish caught despite a largely open season. Climate change and humboldt squid going nuts no doubt also played a role, and perhaps illegal high seas drifting? Grasping at straws... Anyway, we are basically screwed for the third year in a row, so the prices there should be good provided you guys can round a few up. It is my understanding that a bulk of the SE harvest is from Columbia River stocks and they are expecting a decent fall run this and next year, so perhaps your quotas and catch rates will be decent.

Salty

2008-02-15 22:03:26

Sounds like pretty tough slogging for the Alaska trollers at the US Canada treaty meetings this week.

Ocean Gold

2008-02-16 23:02:01

After reading the article and then getting down to the bottom and seeing the quote by the RFA. This is the same thing he said at the IPHC meeting,they have no conception of what they are doing to the overall stocks. They said almost exactly the same about the charter/rec fishing around Alaska ,we need fish to catch for the sport fisherman they would NOT put up with any type of closers or they will go after other species. Many of the charter boats are now using electric reels exclusively and are now fishing to depths that only commercial blackcod fisherman go. This is getting discusting.

After receiving word of the low abundance of Central Valley salmon forecasted in 2008, Jim Martin, West Coast Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, said he hoped that the PFMC was able to keep a recreational chinook season open because of the minimal impact of recreational anglers on the overall salmon population. “If the Council closes salmon fishing completely, it will put more pressure on the rockfish population,” said Martin.

And as for the treaty our intel, Chinooks are not sounding too good at this point, keep your fingers crossed.

ata

2008-02-17 21:19:30

Hi Gumpucky...

I just got back from treaty negotiations. Haven't been online much this week.

CA salmon do not directly impact Alaska fisheries - with rare exceptions they don't migrate this far north, so we don't catch them. However, stock declines in CA certainly do play into 'the sky is falling' salmon politics and can make a few of those impacted by fishery restrictions cranky that someone, somewhere, catches when they don't. So, yes we heard about CA while in Vancouver at Treaty meetings.

The PFMC will discuss the CA-OR-WA stocks and relevent fisheries in mid-March in Sacramento. One of our Lower 48 board members regularly attends and participates in those meetings and keeps us posted. Last year I was there as well, to support fishermen who got whacked over bad water policy in the Klamath River. Trollers must stick together!

Dale, ATA

ata

2008-02-17 21:48:05

On Treaty and Alaska chinook fishery...

I can't say too much about treaty right now, because much of the information is bound by confidentiality. For our members (and hopefully soon to be members=), think of it this way...If ATA is cut off from working with Alaska's negotiating team because we release sensitive information to the public, then we can't try to help from within. I can assure you that the state has been very good at working with the trollers on the Northern Panel (Alaska's Treaty team) and ATA.

The fact is that it's just too early to know what's going to happen with the new agreement. There are many twists and turns - everything from concerns about chinook abundance to ESA listed killer whales that seem to prefer eating chinook. Habitat is of course THE issue plaguing us all and debates about global climate change and what impact that's having on salmon add a whole new layer of 'stuff' to sort through.

Telling the fleet anything specific right now would just lead to unnecessary angst. These negotiations have ALWAYS been tough and this cycle is no exception. During the course of negotiations, lots of things get tabled that die on the vine. So, I think the only fair - and real - thing to say to you at this point in time is that sustaining the current agreement is an uphill battle and Alaska's negotiators are working hard to bring home the best deal possible. The US passed a position to Canada this week and negotiations will continue in mid-March. We should have more to report after that meeting, but time will tell.

Treaty negotiations will NOT affect the 2008 season. So, please bear with and don't be too unhappy if I don't share lots of information online until there's something we can really talk about.

We should know something about this year's quota about the first week in April, when the chinook model is calibrated and managers are told what level we can harvest in 2008.

If folks have time between boatwork to worry about issues, please put some energy into Board of Fish ideas. I'm prepping ATA board packets and would like to add anything the fleet would like them to consider. You can email or snail mail your ideas, but I need to have them in hand no later than March 1.

The ATA Board meets in Juneau March 5-9 and our meetings are open to members and invited guests only.

The ATA Raffle Event is March 8 at the Prospector Hotel in Juneau - it's open to any and all, as long as you have a ticket or pay the cover charge ($20). Tickets are $20 (only 1000 PRINTED) and you can get them through me if local board members are out of them. We take MC/V. First prize: $2500 Second prize: $1000 Third prize: $500... plus a lot of other fun stuff!

Best!

Dale Kelley

Executive Director

Alaska Trollers Association

130 Seward #205

Juneau, AK 99801

ata@gci.net

John Murray

2008-02-27 18:10:44

Well finally looks like the charter guys are getting organized,a new group is forming in SE and they are hiring consultants/lobbyist.ATA needs your continued support

to be there for the fleet. Also some of you members need to beat the brush and help get your buddies on board. Membership is a priority with your ATA board

but we could always can use a hand.We all know those guys who just won't step up to the plate and join their representative group.The thing is you probably

know them personally.There are more excuses to not join a group like ATA ,some even go back 20 years or more.That said, this organization is the firewall

between having a decent fishery and you know what.

Salty

2008-02-27 19:20:12

Here is a rumored proposal to be offered to the

Board of Fisheries.~~[attachment=0]~~Close waters of frequent high Chinook Salmon Abundance to the Guided sport fleet.doc[/attachment]

ALASKA BOARD OF FISHERIES AND ALASKA BOARD OF GAME

REGULATION PROPOSAL FORM, P.O. BOX 25526, JUNEAU, ALASKA 99802-5526

BOARD OF FISHERIES REGULATIONS

□ Fishing Area ___Southeast Alaska________

□ Subsistence □ Personal Use

□ Sport x Commercial

JOINT BOARD REGULATIONS

□ Advisory Committee □ Regional Council □ Rural

BOARD OF GAME REGULATIONS

Game Management Unit (GMU) ___________

□ Hunting □ Trapping

□ Subsistence □ Other ___________

□Resident

□Nonresident

Please answer all questions to the best of your ability. All answers will be printed in the proposal packets along with the proposer's name (address and phone numbers. will not be published). Use separate forms for each proposal.

1. Alaska Administrative Code Number 5 AAC 47.030 Regulation Book Page No. 619

2. What is the problem you would like the Board to address. The mortality of Chinook salmon from leaving Waters of frequent high Chinook salmon abundance: 5AAC 29.025 open to guided sport fishing. Scores of charter operations are now targeting these areas. It is not unusual to see 50 or more guided operations in one of these areas on a June morning. Three years ago I forwarded a magazine article describing the catch and release of 66 Chinook one afternoon by one charter vessel in one of these areas off of Sitka. With the US Canada Treaty model of Chinook abundance declining it is time to address this problem.

3. What will happen if this problem is not solved? With declining overall Chinook abundance and substantial decline in halibut abundance and quota’s it is likely guides will concentrate in the areas of high Chinook abundance even more than in the past. This is likely to lead to even more Chinook mortality. These areas of high Chinook abundance used to be extremely important to the troll fishery when they started up in July. The catch rate was usually excellent in these areas and dramatically shortened the length of the July season thereby reducing the non-retention days and associated mortality. With the dramatic increase of the guided sport fishery targeting Chinook in these areas all of May and June the troll catch rate has been reduced in July. Furthermore it is inequitable for one commercial group, guided sport fishing, to be allowed to target these Chinook in these waters of frequent high Chinook salmon abundance while another user group, trollers, who traditionally fished these areas in May and June, are excluded. It is well known that there is a lot of animosity in the communities of SE

Alaska toward the guided sport fishery because of their reluctance to share in conservation of halibut for example. This opportunity to fish in waters of high Chinook abundance and the subsequent bragging about high catch and release experiences fuels the animosity.

4. What solution do you prefer? In other words, if the Board adopted your solution, what would the new

regulation say? 5 AAC 47.030 (i) The waters of frequent high Chinook salmon abundance (5 AAC 29.025) are closed to the guided sport fishery for Chinook salmon until July 1.

5. Does your proposal address improving the quality of the resource harvested or products produced? If so, how? Conserving the resource by reducing mortality improves the reputation of Alaska for good stewardship of its salmon resource and enhances the attractiveness of our wild salmon in the market.

6. Solutions to difficult problems benefit some people and hurt others:

A. Who is likely to benefit if your solution is adopted? The resource will benefit which will benefit all users in the long run. Trollers will greatly benefit from improved catch rates in the waters of high abundance when the season opens on the first of July. Non-guided and resident sport fishermen will benefit from being able to target Chinook in the waters of high abundance in May and June without pre-emption by scores of guided operations.

B. Who is likely to suffer if your solution is adopted? Guides wedded to the areas of high abundance will have to become better at finding Chinook in other areas along the coast. Clients hooked on the sadistic practice of catching and releasing dozens of Chinook in a day may have to learn to enjoy the wonderful scenery of SE Alaska a bit more.

7. List any other solutions you considered and why you rejected them. I originally wrote this to go all season except for the July troll opening. I decided that we should try this for a cycle and see how it goes. Many of the Chinook move offshore out of these areas of high abundance in late July. The catch and release rate is likely to be reduced later in the season. Plus, when trollers are targeting coho these waters of high Chinook abundance being open to the guided fleet provide a natural separation of the gear types.

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