Salmon catch outlook is sobering

Low salmon numbers in Alaska are forcing federal fisheries officials in the territory to consider cutting back on the Yukon's salmon fishery.

Low salmon numbers in Alaska are forcing federal fisheries officials in the territory to consider cutting back on the Yukon’s salmon fishery.

Last Monday, Alaska officials took measures to conserve the salmon population in the state. They cut the subsistence fishing time in half from 36 hours to 18 hours.

They also restricted the fishing net mesh to six inches from the usual eight inches so larger species like the chinook will swim around the net while still leaving room for the smaller chum salmon to be caught.

“It’s a management technique,” Frank Quinn, area director for the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said this morning.

Numbers from an Alaskan count show 10,000 fish passing a sonar counter between June 14 and 17 at Pilot Station when biologists would normally expect 30,000 to 40,000. Summer chum counts at the same site are at 240,000 when they should be closer to 300,000 to 400,000.

It will likely be next week before any decision is made on the 2008 Yukon fishery from the details coming out of the latest numbers, Quinn said. Officials want to wait until all the information is available on what the territory’s situation will be before making a decision, he explained.

Initial discussions have already begun with first nations in the territory on possible restrictions to the subsistence fishery, with further talks set for this week.

“We have an obligation to talk to them,” Quinn said.

Sparse numbers were expected after a similarly low season last summer. As Quinn noted, many salmon return to the same rivers each year, which give officials an idea of how many salmon to expect and what the regulations around catching should be.

Restrictions were also placed on the fishery last year, he said.

The low population is impacting the entire Pacific coast line with fisheries from California up into B.C. shutting down in an effort to conserve.

As fisheries sideline their operations, scientists are researching the cause of the demise of the salmon population in the Pacific region over the past couple of years.

“It could be anything,” Quinn said. He pointed to changes in patterns, food locations, illnesses or possibly global warming as potential causes.

He recalled a similar situation in 1999 and 2000. Following conservation efforts at that time, salmon numbers had risen by the 2003 season.

“Conservation is the key to this,” Quinn said.

About half the fish in Alaska end up travelling to the Yukon. There is an agreement in place between the two sides of the border on salmon management.

With the Americans living up to its side of the agreement, the Canadian side will also live up to its obligations, Quinn said.