Chum Trollers Association - Forums Archive

kalitan97828

2009-11-03 18:16:24

The Chum Trollers Association will have a potluck/meeting at 6 pm Wednesday at the Jordan Residence here in Sitka. All trollers are welcome. Members have been looking into the opportunities available in other presently non utilized fishing areas such as the DiPac hatchery in the Juneau area. Reports will be made on these enquires.

One of the chum troller's board members, Eric Jordan, is running for the NSARAA Board. Ballots are out. You vote for Eric would be appreciated!! In fact tell your friends to vote for SALTY. He promises never to fire his mother again.

Salty

2009-11-04 05:37:13

My address is 103 Gibson Place. We will be electing a 7th Board member, adopting a mission statement, hearing a report on prospects for Neets Bay, hearing a report on the successful opening of a Bank Account, going over our priorities, discussing a possible request to ATA for help in getting the troll fleet to their 30% allocated share of the value of the commercial hatchery harvest in SE. We will also be discussing the possibility of sending our chairman to the hatchery allocation workshop in Juneau in early December.

I have accepted the nomination of the chum trollers to run for the NSRAA Board of Directors. The ballots have not been mailed yet. The deadline for nominations is the 1st of December. I understand it will not be easy for a chum troller to be elected. I have lost three times, our recent past chair, Stephen Rhoads, lost last year. Chum troll association member #1, Fred Fayette, lost a few years ago.

Within a few days I will post my experience with NSRAA and Alaska fisheries politics, my hatchery technician education, and past and planned dedication to increasing hatchery production and opportunity for trollers. These are tough times for the troll fleet. It is both humbling and exhilarating to be asked to put my experience and energy to work for trollers.

Salty

2009-11-05 18:34:41

Chum Trollers Association Mission Statement.

The mission of the Chum Trollers Association is:

To promote and improve Alaska chum salmon harvest for all trollers.

Adopted unanimously 11/4/2009

kalitan97828

2009-11-05 19:24:41

We had a very productive meeting and the hospitality of the Jordan's was greatly appreciated. Reports on several of the areas we are exploring as fishing opportunities for the next season were made. Eric presented a comparision of the value of the fish we left on the table in 2008. Hopefully he will do a writeup for this thread on those figures. There is an upcomming Reallocation Meeting in December and Linda Danner will attend from the Chum Trollers while Alan Anderson will represent trollers from Nsaraa. Since we have consistantly been below the allocation established by the board of fisheries two things,in my view, could happen at this meeting: !) a reallocation could be made to the other gear groups or the preferred solution 2) the Department could come up with a plan to get the troll percentage on next years season up to the midpoint of our allocation. I think we proved we can catch fish given the proper opportunity. An example of this was Neets Bay last summer where a fleet of 50-60 boats took 186,000 chums in less than two weeks. THIS IS IMPORTANT TO ALL TROLLERS AS KINGS AND COHOES ARE A PART OF THE OVERALL VALUE OF HATCHERY FISH.

Salty

2009-11-06 01:07:58

Here is something that I shared last night and then re-worked today. If any of these figures are wrong, I am not a mathematician, please let me know.

SE Salmon Enhancement Allocation % in 2008.

In 2008 the SE Enhanced allocation was worth $36,265,253.*

The midpoint of our allocated troll harvest value at 29.5% was $10,698,249.

The troll harvest was worth $6,531,038 or 18%.

The difference was $4,167,211.

Or about 120,000 king salmon @ 2009 summer weights and prices on the troll data page.

Or about 520,000 silvers at 2009 prices and an average weight of 6 pounds. (Which is about a third of our coho harvest in 2009 (1,571,597)

Or over 1,000,000 chums at 2009 prices.

Of course comparing 2008 fish to 2009 prices does not mean we should have caught that many more fish in either 2008 or 2009. It just illustrates the value in fish equivalents in our most recent season that trollers are losing by not harvesting our allocated share of the hatchery returns.

In the Summer Chinook openings in 2009 we harvested less than 120,000 Chinook (117,587). Thus the harvest value lost by trollers not being at the mid range of their hatchery harvest allocation in 2008 was roughly equivalent to losing the entire summer Chinook season harvest in 2009. (I apologize to the chum trollers and ATA which had a much less severe version of this yesterday. I had just roughly figured average weights and values yesterday. Today I used the figures on the troll data page for coho and Chinook.)

I am and have been outraged by this inequity. The only possible reason I can think of is that the troll fleet is not really aware of the magnitude of this problem or else our fleet would be outraged.

When the seiners fell a slight bit out of their allocation they immediately launched a campaign to correct the situation and they got Board of Fisheries action. Troll leaders on the RPT and NSRAA board helped the seiners. What are the troll leaders and seiners doing to alleviate the troll problem?

I know what the gillnet leaders are doing and will be doing because they have already proposed it and tell me they will be pursuing it again. They want the allocation formula re-visited in order to permanently fix the trollers below 20% and increase their share.

* ADF&G presentation to Joint RPT meeting April, 2009.

Salty

2009-11-14 20:15:38

More Chum Trollers Association News. I thought it might be good to post information on our dues.

Membership is $50.00 for Chum Trollers, hand and power. Crew membership is $20.00. Associate membership for businesses, processors, etc. is $100.00.

We have filed papers to be a non-profit fisherman's association with the State of Alaska. We have set up a bank account for dues and contributions with Carl Petersen, FV Last Dance, as our treasurer.

Checks for membership or donations can be made out to Chum Trollers Association and mailed to:

Eric Jordan, 103 Gibson Place, Sitka, AK 99835

or Carl Petersen, PO Box 593, Sitka, AK 99835

kalitan97828

2009-11-25 22:03:26

An idea. There is a fair return some years on cohoes to Hidden Falls. At times there has been a viable fishery until the cost recovery seiner comes in and cleans out the buildup of fish. This results in killing the troll fishery for a period of days. Basically once cost recovery starts its all over as far as a sustainable troll fishery is concerned.One way to get us closer to our allocation which is based on value would be to establish a viable fishery on the Hidden Falls coho.

What I am proposing is that rather than concentrating the cost recovery in one day that this be spread out over two or three days with a day or so between takes a smaller amounts being taken each day. I realize this is not the most cost effective from the hatchery perspective but remember we are not running this operation to maximize cost recovery......!! If we had a viable fishery this might result in a reduced cost recovery of cohoes resulting in an increased take of chums.

Perhaps we should go to the NSARR meeting with a proposal to try eliminating coho cost recovery for a two year period and turn the trollers loose --keep the barrier net up and lets see what the trollers can do....!!

Carol W

2009-11-26 18:31:18

What would better serve the fleet is if we released those coho south of Coronation, SSRAA coho contribution this year was something like 68% of all enhanced coho caught in SE including enhanced coho from the south. This percentage is not always this high however it is abundantly clear after studying tag data that coho released in district 1 contribute to the troll fleet at a much higher rate than any other area, mainly because they swim the whole length of the coast. Since NSRAA receaves 3% monies for the value of Coho that SSRAA raises and are caught north of Coronation then as a troll fleet we should be demanding that NSRAA release their coho to the south where the troll fleet will receave the most value.

Keep your hand on it

Tom

Salty

2009-11-28 02:20:33

Tom,

Or use a portion of the 3% trollers fishing off of Sitka made on enhanced coho to help fund coho production in Southern SE. In the bigger picture what you are suggesting I believe is that we start thinking strategically, based on 30 years of SE hatchery production, where we invest our 3% and other hatchery funding to get the most return to the fleet. (I just deleted a paragraph about where that might lead because I greatly appreciate the work you do Tom, and your idea.) I think your idea and lots of other ones need to be considered to improve our hatchery troll harvest values.

Carol W

2009-11-28 07:08:44

Absolutely that is one of my thoughts Eric the other gear groups discuss this very topic why shouldn't we, I mean look at Neets Bay chinook we see them in the district 113 winter troll fishery say about the beginning of April until it closes and then we see some in the Biorka Is spring fishery and then the next time you hear about these Kings is when the gillnets are whacking the hell out of them. I have often wondered why as a fleet we have not forced the issue as to where we release fish in relation to our interception. We have shown as a fleet that if the fish pass thru an area that we have traditionally fished in then we are quite good at intercepting them. Anyway enough of that for now just trying to get people to think some.

Keep your hand on it

Tom

Salty

2009-11-28 17:59:43

Tom and all,

Chum trollers will be meeting late next week in Sitka to brainstorm, compile, and think strategically about ideas for moving trollers within their allocated share of the harvest value of SE hatchery produced salmon (27-32%) starting in 2010. Ideas have been being developed toward that goal for over a month and been circulating within the group for the last week or so. Good ideas are emerging, and a strategy for working with the other gear groups, the Associations, ADF&G, etc. is being developed. We recognize that there is a history of good work by ATA, troll representatives on various groups, and many others to try and address this problem. Nevertheless the fact that trollers remain well below their allocation, 18-19%, the difference between our allocated share and our harvest percentage costs us millions of dollars a year and over 50 million since the allocation agreement compels us to help. Also the precedent of the seiners who when they fell slightly below their rolling five year average took immediate and decisive action to remedy the shortfall has been noted.

Two important meetings are coming up next week which chum troll representatives will be at. NSRAA meets Nov. 30, Dec. 1&2 in Sitka. The Joint Regional Planning Teams (SE salmon gear groups and hatchery personnel) meet the 9th and 10th in Juneau to discuss plans for next year and future SE hatchery salmon harvest plans and allocation issues.

If you would like to share your ideas for improving troll hatchery harvest values please feel free to post here or send me a private message. We will be posting the ideas next week after we have met and combined the similar ones, organized them according to sites, species, etc. and vetted according to those needing Board of Fisheries action or those that can be accomplished by the Associations, Department, or education.

kalitan97828

2009-12-01 05:02:51

Fellow trollers,

I attended the NSRAA Board meeting today. The last item of the day was a presentation on the 2009 returns. Basically it was a crappy year with low returns and small fish. I had a board packet so did not take notes thinking I would find the same info in the packet. This so far has not proved to be the case regarding the last slide of the day which was an analysis of the allocation percentages. Upon reflection I am not sure if the slide presented nunbers or value but the troll percentage stood starkly out----10%. That's the problem in a nutshell ---we are less than half of our allocation---how many dollars did we as trollers leave on the table????????

Salty

2009-12-01 05:10:23

Karl,

Was this NSRAA %, SE preliminary estimates or what?

John Murray

2009-12-01 06:07:15

I wonder how that connects at all with chums making up 90% of the value of fish produced by NSRAA?

kalitan97828

2009-12-01 06:09:52

This was just NSRAA did not include any other groups. Again I am unclear if that was numbers of fish or value of fish. Rather think it was numbers.

kalitan97828

2009-12-04 03:19:33

SEND IN YOUR INPUTS

Chum Trollers Agenda Dec. 4th

Call to order: 6:00 pm 103 Gibson Place-- Linda Danner

Minutes—Eric Jordan

Treasurer’s Report -Carl Peterson

Membership & Correspondence- Eric Jordan Membership Form?

Nominations for 7th Board Member?

NSRAA Board election. Mailing labels: From CFEC. Envelopes, letter stuffing party Dec. 12th:?

Mitigation funds: How to spend the trollers share for quota being reduced by 15%. Howard Pendell.

NSRAA Report Ryan, Eric, Carl, Doug. Chip Blair plan for gear group rotation after cost recovery in Deep Inlet

Conversation with SSRAA Hatchery Manager John Burke Dec. 3 Linda, Ryan, Eric

Ideas for moving trollers within their allocated share of SE hatchery harvest values starting in 2010.

DiPAC, Deep Inlet, Neets Bay, Hidden Falls, Port Armstrong, Kake, Anita Bay any others.

Salty

2009-12-06 23:26:06

~~[attachment=0]~~Eric Jordan & Neets Bay Chum.jpg[/attachment]Fellow Trollers,

I am running for the NSRAA Board of Directors Power Troll seat for several reasons:

Several trollers asked me to run because they appreciate the fact that I have been attending NSRAA Board meetings since I helped found the Association and was its second hired employee in 1977.

I believe it is time for a combination of fresh, experienced, and knowledgeable leadership on the NSRAA Board. With my Sheldon Jackson hatchery technician degree, a lifetime of involvement in fisheries conservation and management, and renewed energy from our re-organized Chum Trollers Association team I believe I can provide that leadership.

I believe trollers need more aggressive leadership in working to bring our fleet within its allocation (27-32%) of SE hatchery harvest values. The difference between our allocation and our harvest share since 1994 of about 19% amounts to over $50 million dollars. Over $4 million in 2008 alone.

I and many others believe it is time to examine our hatchery program with the highest priority for Chinook and coho opportunity and harvest for the troll fleet but to also include chum troll opportunity. This includes pursuing both new production and remote release sites throughout the region for all three species.

I would greatly appreciate your vote. My phone number is (907) 738-2486 if you ever want to give me a call and discuss SE hatchery programs.

Eric Jordan, FV I Gotta

kalitan97828

2009-12-08 03:23:39

Fellow trollers,

These are my thoughts and not necessarily those of the Association. We have a great non profit hatchey at Port Alexander that has limped along. It has a great experienced staff, a good facility and I think 50 Million permitted smolts. It also puts out some kings, cohoes and humpies. Relationships with NSRAA, I understand, have not been the best in the past. Also the trollers at PA have some reservations about producing chum smolts because the dreaded seiners may gain access to the area. Another fact is that the seiners in no way want to give up any production at Hidden Falls to the trollers.

What is suggested is that: The respective boards of the hatcheries try again to work together with NSRAA giving positive support to assist Armstrong Keta to produce chums for a troll fishery. That the Board of Fish designate that, after we share Hidden Falls production on an interim basis while we get Armstrong Keta up to speed ,that HF be designated as a seine fishery and that Armstrong Keta be a troll fishery. ( Note: might use a seiner for cost recovery) That the king and coho production be continued and promoted at Armstrong Keta Please post your thoughts

kalitan97828

2009-12-08 05:35:05

While we are thinking outside the box I'll pass on a suggestion by Ocean Gold---why not allow six lines for chums. This would increase our production per boat what would be the downside???

kalitan97828

2009-12-08 05:35:30

While we are thinking outside the box I'll pass on a suggestion by Ocean Gold---why not allow six lines for chums. This would increase our production per boat what would be the downside???

carojae

2009-12-10 05:27:20

I say this topic and thread should be in the Fisheries Politics forum. But who am I to say. :?

Salty

2009-12-10 18:22:53

Good point. Maybe Carl can say why he started it here. Meanwhile Linda Danner Chum Trollers Association, Dale Kelly and Dave Otte, ATA, are over at the SE Hatchery allocation workshop today in Juneau fighting hard for trollers share of the SE Hatchery salmon values. The flight I was on yesterday overflew Juneau due to fog so I am here in Sitka. Preliminary word is that trollers and seiners remain below their allocated shares and that gillnetters have a plan for permanently fixing trollers below their share. Thanks to ATA and Linda for working hard for us.