Federal fisheries managers meeting in Juneau plan to put a 7,500 fish limit on Chinook salmon bycatch by some 60 bottom trawlers harvesting flatfish, rockfish and Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska.
The famed Copper River district salmon fishery is running well ahead of forecast and appears likely now to have a robust regular commercial fishing schedule, with openers twice weekly averaging 24 to 36 hours, state biologists say.
May 31 was supposed to be the final day to submit public comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft Bristol Bay watershed assessment, but that deadline has been extended until June 30.
Stormy weather and icy conditions got the Copper River wild salmon fishery off to a rough start, but by the end of the third 12-hour opener on May 27, commercial fishers had harvested an estimated 575,589 reds, 5,827 kings and 5,211 chums.