2009 Chinook Quotas
161,637 troll
9,408 seine
6,345 drift gillnet
1,000 set gillnet
40,410 sport
Taku River Quota = 8,260
Stikine River Quota = 0
Salty
2009-03-30 16:03:30
Dale,
How does this compare with last year and two years ago? What is the number, 1.1?
Salty
2009-03-30 16:39:30
Last year we were allocated 125,400 treaty Chinook for the troll fishery and 170,000 all gear so this looks like an improvement at first blush.
Salty
2009-03-30 16:50:25
Folks,
I actually looked up the answer between the previous postings. I am not asking myself questions that I already know here.
carojae
2009-04-01 16:54:38
Incredible. Now, lets hope for a price.
Salty
2009-04-01 17:15:25
In my opinion the main issue facing the troll fleet and our managers now is the length of the opening(s). I understand there were some problems with troll Chinook quality last year. I will leave the details out so as not to besmirch our wonderful troll salmon any more but I heard that a major buyer complained to a major SE troll processor. Apparently this was due to Chinook being held too long on ice.
Years ago I argued strongly at an ATA Board meeting that we needed to discuss with our troll managers the problems that would develop in 6-9 day openings. The problem being that the fleet, including ice boats, would be tempted to fish the whole opening without unloading. With the best fishing often being the opening couple of days this would mean a lot of fish being on ice 7-10 days before they were unloaded and then on ice at the processing plants for more time before being frozen, filleted, or shipped. My comments were viewed as blasphemous to put it kindly.
Most of us in the troll fleet are extremely quality conscious but we get paid for volume rather than quality to a certain extent. For example we almost all get paid the same for one day old Chinook and 7 day old Chinook. If you are on fish the evening of the 6th day, still have room and ice, and the season is 7 days long it will pay to fish the 7th day even though you know that by the time you run to town, get on the unloading list, and finally unload the fish you caught the first day will be 8 or more days old. It is a horrible situation for the managers to put the bulk of the fleet in. (This scenario really doesn't affect my personal production much as I fish close to town, almost always deliver on the third or fourth of July, and my son and a couple of partners are freezing now so an 8-10 day season is ideal for them.) But it does affect the quality of our troll production and eventually the prices for all of us.
My thinking is that the manager needs to avoid setting the season between 6-8 days long. Shorter than 6 and the quality probably isn't compromised too much. Longer than 8 and almost everyone other than those freezing will have to unload during the season.
Is anyone else concerned about this problem?
Hi Eric:
Sorry for the slow response, I've been out on sick leave.
The 2009 pre-season abundance index is 1.33. Last year, the pre-season was 1.07 and post-season was 1.01. The all-gear quota was 170,000 and our share was just over 125,000.
The quota calculus is rather complicated and it's difficult for a troller on the dock to know whether the fleet is gaining or losing ground from year to year. Simply put, the harvest level this year is 15% less than it would have been last year using the same abundance index (1.33). This is because the new 10-yr treaty agreement is now in affect and the harvest level associated with each abundance level has been reduced by 15%.
There is a review scheduled for year 5 of the agreement and hopefully the allowable harvest will be adjusted up to a more reasonable level. Time and a lot of work will tell.
For now, I'm grateful there are more fish to harvest than last year - let's just hope the price of fish is up, and fuel costs are down.
Dale, ATA
spike christopher
2009-04-01 20:42:43
Salty, I have a question on the issue of freshness. Last year while fishing on the outside of Baranof (Whale Bay to Cape Omaney) I would make sure to sell every third day to the tenders. More than once I would sell as they were headed south, three or four days later they would again purchase my fish as they headed for Sitka still carrying my original fish. How can one expect freshness if the tenders them self's are going to deliver old fish. I am not interested in losing a day and a half to sell my fish in Sitka if the buyer is sending out the tenders. Now who's fault is it if the buyers are doing this. Also it can amount to a large sum of money being lost by the end of the season. I believe the issues are more complicated than just selling every three days. Believe me I think it is paramount to keep our fish fresh I just don't have a good answer.
What say you?
carojae
2009-04-01 21:37:31
I think most of us are concerned.
I know my fish are bled, cleaned, and chilled within less than a half hour and do my best to have a product that is top-of-the-line. But, I am a ice boat and often presented with the scenerio you are talking about Salty.
Usually, my solution is selling to a day buyer and hopefully they take my product in to be processed within a day or so. But what if the price goes up? Should I chance it? Retro's aren't offered all every the time. Do I want to wait for all the other boats drifting around the buyer to sell my catch? Do I have to wait up until midnight? This experience usually costs me somehow. Sometimes, my lack of loyality to this seller comes into play and I lose rank which usually translates to not enough ice for me or or something.
But your point is well taken. What makes me cringe is this scenerio: Boat completes his 6 days out; goes to town to sell; knows it would be faster to drop off his measily 75 kings (just an example) to a buying scow and then proceeds in for fuel, ice and more grocerys. The buyers packer just left for town; the fish then stay another day or two; however they do finally get to the Cold Storage and sit there for another day or more. Ugh.
These fish, first off, are handled too many times already. And, what if my 1st class fish are mixed in with this batch and the bacteria count has consequence on my fish?.... Will my fish stink too?
A couple of my friends do the above scenerio. I understand why they do it - it doesn't mean I like it. But yes, this problem is real.
What is the answer? I don't know. The price of fuel also influences the situation. Packers shuttling fish back and forth has got to be expensive for the buyers.
Anyhow.
I rarely see the blantant abusers out there anymore - at least like we use to.
You gotta admit, things have advanced towards a better/prime product. I remember when I had a white plastic tub that I held my fish in for sometimes a couple of days.......yeow.
The one other guy that disturbs me is the guy that is still cleaning fish well after he has anchored. There is absolutely no excuse for that.
$0.02
.
Salty
2009-04-02 01:36:28
Wow,
Three great posts today while I was out tuning my new hayrack. All I can say is I a proud father as I figured out what my fabricator (my son) had in mind. My back deck is safer, more ergonomic, and the shelter looks great.
Thank you Dale for explaining all this to us. And thanks for the original post. I got to share the good news with lots of guys before the media broadcast it. I was accused more than once of trying to play an April fools joke early.
And thank you two for sharing that you are also concerned about the quality situation. I have had very little support for this concern over the years. I also want to say that it is amazing to me how much we have learned and improved in terms of everything from how to clean a fish in a timely manner to getting it chilled immediately and then keeping it cold until unloading within five days.
I grew up wetting gunny sacks to cover the fish with. I started power trolling with a couple of tubs that held about 50 coho apiece and I commonly kept them in there in water all day without ice. It was years before I started to religiously bleed every fish. I can still remember putting salmon down in the slaughter house on ice all day and not icing them into the bins until I was anchored. (I fished solo for several years.) It was several years before I bought a double set of brailer bags so they didn't go back to holding fish after a short rinse at the unloading dock or tender. Now I have three sets and the rotation is fish, storage, ice, fish. It was only a few years ago that we learned about cleaning up every day with a bleach solution. It was only a few years ago that we started dipping every brailer bag in a bleach solution after washing and rinsing.
I confess to all the above to admit my own guilt. I also was in an evening coho bite one time when I told the deckhand to just run gear at about 8:00 pm. We would clean after they stopped biting. Of course they bit until about 9:50 and we had about 150 coho to clean after we anchored.
Nevertheless the troll fleet is light years ahead of the rest of the Alaska salmon fleet. Think gillnetters who commonly don't get the fish out of the net until they have hung for an hour or hours in 55-60 degree water. Think seiners who seldom bleed any of their harvest. I remember serving on a salmon quality task force and after we had heard all this testimony about the need to improve Alaska's salmon by immediately chilling and bleeding I pushed for a motion from the committee to "Bleed and chill all Alaska salmon immediately". I was asked during a recess to withdraw it because other panelists did not want to be embarrassed by voting against it but that their fleets could not do both or either in some cases.
So, here we are, the fleet that immediately bleeds and chills our salmon in addition to carefully cleaning and flushing all the blood out of the veins. Plus we start with the very best salmon, ocean brite feeders. And we are talking about improving the product even more by making sure we get it delivered and processed within 5 or 6 days.
So, everything else I say must be taken in context with the above and none of this is directed at anyone who has made posts on this site.
This bs practice of delivering after 4 or 5 days to a tender that will not get to the plant for another 3 or 4 days is hurting all of us. This bs of delivering 7-8 days after you caught the first salmon on your trip has got to stop. I watched the splitters in Pelican one time filleting big beautiful looking coho from one of our acknowledged highliners who I had seen arrive at Cape Cross 8 days before he delivered. Those fish, while beautiful looking, were soft and gaping. I worked in the cold storage one fall and saw the quality of gillnet coho which had not been chilled quick enough. It was quite a shock for me to see coho from a top notch troller in the same sad condition.
At some point we are all responsible personally for the quality of troll salmon, not just our own. We have to resist as best we can the urge to compromise quality for quantity even though that choice is often where the money is. We must work with managers so that we are not put in untenable situations. We must elect representatives to our boards who have a reputation for quality instead of for production. (Not that they are mutually exclusive.)
Of course it is much easier for some of us who only have to handle 5-10 Chinook on a good day to produce top quality than it is for those highliners catching 50-200 Chinook a day. So maybe I am just whining because I have never had to make the choice to stop pulling Chinook aboard because I ran out of ice. (Actually it did happen once but that was because I didn't get enough ice.)
Katlian
2009-04-02 01:59:25
old fish
trip limits
concerned about quality.
FAS
is that a haiku?
Salty
2009-04-02 02:10:35
You FAS guys be careful. Remember you are the minority. We might just start treating you like chum trollers.
spike christopher
2009-04-02 02:59:50
I'm pretty naive so I don't know what is really BS or not, I will learn. What is FAS?
Salty
2009-04-02 04:14:22
bs stands for "bad skipper" and is a close relative to "bad dog".
FAS usually means Frozen At Sea.
In these posts it could stand for Factually Amiss Suspect or Failing At Sea.
apache
2009-04-03 19:38:35
You have to get the gills out bacteria starts growing there first.