Alaska Emergency Closure

The Kenai Peninsula / UCI chinooks stocks have been tanking for years and until 2021-22 managed by late or in-season EO. When the writing on the wall became too obvious for managers to ignore, DFG started preemptively shutting down fisheries before the season. As of this writing, late-run Kenai chinook are now recognized as a stock of concern, the ESSN fishery is being transitioned to a (hopefully) more sustainable harvest method/model, and nearly all the accessible U/LCI streams have new monitoring plans in place.
 
For those that aren't tracking, the staples of the Alaska sport fishing industry are being threatened by the pollock industry. Halibut and King Salmon numbers have been way down for years. The solution has consistently been to enforce shutdowns on the sport fishing industry with much less focus on the primary cause in the ocean. The link below provides a good overview of the bycatch issue.

https://alaskaoutdoorcouncil.org/2023/06/23/bycatch-is-killing-legendary-alaskan-fishing/
 
There's more nuance to the declines than just trawl bycatch, but it certainly is an issue. Late marine mortality appears to be a large factor as new research about chinook depredation by marine mammals and salmon sharks is published.
 
G_Smolt said:
There's more nuance to the declines than just trawl bycatch, but it certainly is an issue. Late marine mortality appears to be a large factor as new research about chinook depredation by marine mammals and salmon sharks is published.
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I see the Nushagak has missed it's lower escapement goal 5 of the last 6 years shown on the graph.
 
Yes, Nushagak kings have been listed as a stock of management concern since 2022. The 2010-2019 avg run was 183k, and prior to that it only missed escapement 2 other years, 2007 and 2017. Recent management actions have included curtailed fishing effort in the bay to allow kings to pass, as there is overlap between sockeye and king timing.

Another interesting one on that side of the peninsula is the Kuskokwim, which has an escapement goal of 65k-120k fish. There have been more years exceeding the upper bound than falling within, most notably 2015-2024.

With few exceptions, the king decline is coastwide, and the drivers are manifold. Trawl bycatch is one of the anthropogenic drivers we CAN control, and to be clear, I think one bycatch king is one too many. Unfortunately, I don't see the political or management will / appetite for reductions other than the recent caps.
 
G_Smolt said:
Yes, Nushagak kings have been listed as a stock of management concern since 2022. The 2010-2019 avg run was 183k, and prior to that it only missed escapement 2 other years, 2007 and 2017. Recent management actions have included curtailed fishing effort in the bay to allow kings to pass, as there is overlap between sockeye and king timing.

Another interesting one on that side of the peninsula is the Kuskokwim, which has an escapement goal of 65k-120k fish. There have been more years exceeding the upper bound than falling within, most notably 2015-2024.

With few exceptions, the king decline is coastwide, and the drivers are manifold. Trawl bycatch is one of the anthropogenic drivers we CAN control, and to be clear, I think one bycatch king is one too many. Unfortunately, I don't see the political or management will / appetite for reductions other than the recent caps.
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Could they adjust the timing of their seasons or areas that they are allowed to fish?
 
So many causes...as the Pacific Kuroshio/Black Inshore current, a bait school freeway, continues to warm it spreads out, diffusing bait schools. This forces King salmon to burn precious stored fat when searching longer for the schools, which paired with the stress of swimming through warmer sea temps encountered returning 'home' = a higher mortality rate than in previous decades when the Black current ran colder in a narrower band closer to shore.
 
Time / area is a tricky one. There is a lot of ocean closed to the trawl fleet, and keeping them in their current boxes, paradoxically, keeps them from damaging more seabed.

Peltola (D-AK) had some good legislation teed up to end "Incidental bottom contact" by the supposedly midwater trawl fleet which would have gone a long way to reduce crab and halibut bycatch, but she lost her house race.

Going back to kings - good general info and some origin sampling here: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/bycatch/chinook-salmon-bycatch-management-alaska
 
Is any of this due to lowered production from the lower 48? I read from time to time that AK kings are intercepted WA/OR fish.
 
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