Bycatch in pollock fishery 'seems unlikely' as cause of Chinook declines in AYK, research report says

An organization known as the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Sustainable Salmon Initiative recently issued a research action plan to address Western Alaska's weak Chinook returns.

The plan is cumbersome reading, but Deckboss spent some time with it and offers this very brief summary.

An "expert panel" co-chaired by Daniel Schindler, a University of Washington fisheries scientist, identifies seven hypotheses thought to be the most likely causes of low Chinook returns.

Out of these seven hypotheses, the expert panel gives six the highest priority for research funding.

The one not ranked highest priority is marine bycatch — the idea that mortality from non-salmon fisheries in the ocean has contributed to the decline of AYK Chinook stocks.

The action plan states:

Based on available data, the bycatch within the domestic walleye pollock fisheries seems unlikely to have been the primary cause for the recent dramatic declines of Chinook salmon in the AYK region, because estimates of bycatch from this source are not high relative to the estimated declines in the total returns to the drainages.

The other six hypotheses include: density-dependent effects and overcompensation; freshwater mortality; ocean mortality; anthropogenic changes to marine ecological processes; escapement quality; and pathogens.

Obviously some of these are a bit technical. But the action plan contains plenty of additional detail on each hypothesis.

In case you care

Once again this year, a great deal of herring is expected to be up for grabs in remote Western Alaska waters including Norton Sound, Goodnews Bay and Security Cove.

In fact, a harvest up to the anticipated quota of 23,172 tons would be "one of the largest on record" in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region, says this news release from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The perennial question with AYK herring, however, is whether any processors will show up to support a fishery.

Legislators to review AYK salmon management

The Alaska House Special Committee on Fisheries will hold a hearing Wednesday on salmon management in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region of Western Alaska.

The hearing is set for 2:30 p.m. at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage.

The committee will hear from the state Department of Fish and Game, village councils and commercial industries, and will take public testimony, says this committee press release.

People in the huge AYK region have long depended on salmon fisheries, the release says.

"Over the past 10 years, there have been declines in the salmon returns to Western Alaska, which has led to severe restrictions on commercial and subsistence fisheries, as well as state and federal disaster declarations."

The hearing coincides with the huge Alaska Federation of Natives convention, which begins Thursday in Anchorage.

Area M seiners stand down to save chums

Purse seiners in Sand Point and King Cove are voluntarily sitting out this week's salmon season opener as a way to avoid intercepting chums possibly bound for Western Alaska rivers.

Here's a press release from the Aleutians East Borough.

We saw the seiners stage a similar goodwill shutdown in 2005 when chums were running too thick in what's known as the Area M or False Pass fishery.

The seiners fear that netting too many chums while chasing their main quarry, sockeye, could result in ruinous fishing restrictions to protect Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim salmon runs.