FISHERIES UPDATE FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 6 - 11 2022. Report #16

SOUTHEAST ALASKA 

Sitka and Hoonah Area – Forest Service, Tongass National Forest

Position vacant – No reports expected for remainder of season.

Petersburg and Wrangell Area –Andrew Sanders, Forest Service, Tongass National Forest
Andrew Sanders, (907)772-3871 andrew.sanders@usda.gov
Reporting complete for season, please contact me if you have any questions. 

Juneau and Yakutat – Forest Service, Tongass National Forest
Jake Musslewhite, 907-789-6256  jacob.g.musslewhite@usda.gov

Reporting complete for season, please contact me if you have any questions. 

Prince of Wales and Ketchikan District area – TBA, Forest Service, Tongass National Forest. (907) 826-1649

USFS Weekly Summary Author position vacant - TBA. No reports expected this season or until alternate staffing arrangements are made.

Southeast Alaska Web Links

Tongass National Forest News Room http://www.fs.usda.gov/news/tongass/news-events

Federal Subsistence Fisheries Regulations for Southeastern Alaska Area http://www.doi.gov/subsistence/regulation/fish_shell/upload/Southeast.pdf

ADF&G Sport and Personal Use Fishing News Release and Emergency Order Link http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/EONR/index.cfm?ADFG=region.R1

ADF&G Commercial Fisheries News Release and Emergency Order Link http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=cfnews.main

Weekly ADF&G Sport Fishing Reports for Southeast Alaska http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishingReports/index.cfm?ADFG=R1.home

Statewide ADF&G Fish counts
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/

SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA 

Copper River, 8/29/2022 Update – Dave Sarafin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (WRST), (907) 822-7281, dave_sarafin@nps.gov

Reporting complete for the 2022 season.  Please contact me as the above if you have questions.

Links:
ADFG Miles Lake daily sonar estimates
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareacopperriver.salmon_escapement

NVE’s Chinook Escapement Monitoring project in the Copper River    http://eyak.fishscan.com/Summary/DailySummary.aspx 

ADFG Copper River In-season Commercial Harvest Estimates
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareacopperriver.harvestsummary

ADFG Sport Fish Emergency Orders and News Releases
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/EONR/index.cfm?ADFG=main.home 

Links:
ADFG Miles Lake daily sonar estimates
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareacopperriver.salmon_escapement

NVE’s Chinook Escapement Monitoring project in the Copper River    http://eyak.fishscan.com/Summary/DailySummary.aspx 

ADFG Copper River Inseason Commercial Harvest Estimates
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareacopperriver.harvestsummary

ADFG Sport Fish Emergency Orders and News Releases
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/EONR/index.cfm?ADFG=main.home 

PWS and Copper River Delta – Stormy Haught, Chugach National Forest, Cordova.
12 September 2022
Fifty-six Federal Subsistence fishing permits have been issued for freshwaters within the Chugach National Forest portion of the Prince William Sound area (FFPW01) to-date in 2022. Harvest statistics of this year’s permit holders will not be known until reports are returned this winter. Most harvest under these permits takes place during the coho fishery in fresh waters of the Copper River Delta in August and September. Seventy-four permits were issued in 2021 and 28 were fished. Reported harvest was 459 Coho Salmon, 19 Sockeye Salmon and 4 Cutthroat Trout.
The new dip net fishery in the Lower Copper River Area (FFPW05) began on June 1, 2022. Sixty-nine permits have been issued so far. Most effort and harvest has taken place at 36-Mile of the Copper River Highway. Harvest must be reported with 48 hours, there has been no reported harvest since the end of June. Inseason harvest reported to-date is 107 Sockeye and 3Chinook Salmon. Sockeye and Chinook salmon runs to the Copper River are mostly finished for the 2022. It is likely that there will be little to no effort in the Lower Copper River dip net fishery for remainder of the season.
The Coho salmon run to Copper River Delta streams covered under FFPW01 has been weak. The commercial fishery has been closed since August 30th and as of September 9, ADF&G Division of Sportfish has reduced coho salmon daily sportfishing limit to 2 fish and prohibited the use of bait. The parent year of the majority of this year’s returning coho was a severe drought in Prince William Sound and the Copper River Delta, with dewatered redds and prespawn adult mortality observed on several systems including an event on Ibeck Creek that stranded and killed several thousand Coho salmon. In addition to a weak run, unusually high-water conditions have impacted freshwater Coho fishing effort this fall with most streams over bank full and highly turbid.

COOK INLET AREA – Kenneth Gates, Senior Fish Biologist, Kenai Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office  907 260 0126.  Or  Kenneth_gates@FWS.gov

Reporting complete for the season.  Please contact me if you have any questions. 

Fish counts at some Alaska Department of Fish and Game-operated assessment projects are available on-line at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/index.cfm?ADFG=main.home

Kodiak Island Area – Michael Brady, Refuge Manager, - Kodiak NWR
(907) 487-2600/0230 michael_brady@fws.gov or 
Kevin Van Hatten (907) 487-0230 Kevin_VanHatten@fws.gov  

Reporting finalized for the season.  Please contact us if you have questions.