(Juneau) — Under provisions of the Pacific Salmon Treaty, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announced on Monday that the preseason Chinook salmon all-gear harvest limit for Southeast Alaska (SEAK) in 2019 is 137,500 fish.
This year’s all-gear harvest limit includes a 2% reduction that will serve as a buffer to avoid exceeding the all-gear limit and payback provisions within the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
The all-gear harvest limit for SEAK is determined by the Chinook Technical Committee of the Pacific Salmon Commission and is based on a forecast of the aggregate abundance of Pacific Coast Chinook salmon stocks subject to management under the Pacific Salmon Treaty as determined by Catch per Unit Effort in the Southeast Alaska early winter troll fishery.
The Southeast Alaska Chinook salmon all-gear harvest limit is allocated among sport and commercial troll and net fisheries under management plans specified by the Alaska Board of Fisheries as follows:
| 2019 Treaty Chinook Salmon Allocations | Number of Chinook Salmon |
|---|---|
| Purse seine (4.3% of all-gear) | 5,900 |
| Drift gillnet (2.9% of all-gear) | 4,000 |
| Set gillnet (1,000) | 1,000 |
| Troll (80% after net gear subtracted) | 101,300 |
| Sport (20% after net gear subtracted) | 25,300 |
| Total all-gear harvest limit | 137,500 |
Preseason projections for three Alaska Chinook stocks (Chilkat, King Salmon, and Unuk rivers) listed as stocks of management concern indicate that two of the three stocks will not achieve their minimum escapement goals in 2019, necessitating a management regime aimed at minimizing interception of these stocks. In addition, continued poor production across the region is anticipated to affect the eleven monitored Chinook salmon index systems of which seven failed to achieve their minimum escapement goal in 2018. Therefore, the management strategy for the 2019 fisheries will focus on minimizing harvests of these Alaska stocks. A similar management strategy was employed in 2018 and successfully reduced the interception of these stocks.
Allocative and regulatory information can be found in news release sections for the Division of Sport Fish and Division of Commercial Fisheries. Links to these releases are below:
Related Division of Sport Fish News Release:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/EONR/index.cfm?ADFG=region.NR&NRID=2719
Related Division of Commercial Fisheries News Release:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/applications/dcfnewsrelease/1020850172.pdf (PDF 132 kB)
Source: ADF&G
ADF&G Announces 2019 SE Alaska Chinook Salmon All Gear Harvest Limit added by ADF&G on
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