Yukon gloom

Here, in a nutshell, is the 2021 run outlook for Yukon River salmon:

Chinook — poor
Summer chum — below average
Fall chum — below average
Coho — below average to average

The department expects no directed fishery for Chinook.

Will the Yukon ever see a return to better days?

Fire ravages Kwik'pak buildings in Emmonak

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Emmonak
Type: Structure fire
On 3/19/16 at approximately 1328 hours, Alaska State Troopers and the Emmonak village public safety officer were notified of a structure fire and smoke from a Kwik'pak Fisheries building in Emmonak. AST and the VPSO arrived on scene to find smoke coming from the windows of a large warehouse. The VPSO started to organize firefighting efforts and AST secured the area and ensured the surrounding buildings were evacuated. Fire suppression efforts on the building were unsuccessful due to failed and inoperable equipment. The fire quickly spread, completely destroying three Kwik'pak Fisheries buildings. The fire continued to spread, destroying two Yukon Marine Manufacturing buildings. The fire continued to burn throughout the evening. No injuries or burns have been reported, and no foul play is suspected. Damage is currently estimated in excess of $3 million.

Three notes

The Copper River salmon fishery will open for the season at 7 a.m. May 14. It'll be a 12-hour period, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says. More details here.

Out west at Togiak, the sac roe herring fishery cruises along. The seine fleet has taken 15,654 tons on its quota of 20,309 tons. As for the gillnet fleet, the department is holding the catch total confidential because only two companies are buying gillnet fish.

On the Yukon River, managers don't anticipate a commercial fishery for Chinook salmon due to continued weak returns. The picture is brighter for chum and coho. Read the Yukon outlook here.

Mixed fortunes on the Yukon

Zero Chinook salmon were reported sold on the Yukon River this summer, and the commercial harvest of nearly 531,000 chums was 79 percent above the recent five-year average.

That's the gist of this season summary from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Shutting them down on the Yukon

State and federal officials yesterday took action to stop subsistence fishermen from abusing the rules to target Chinook salmon.

Read the details here.

'Extremely poor'

State and federal managers have released their Yukon River salmon fisheries outlook. Here's how it starts:

The 2014 Chinook salmon run is expected to be extremely poor and could be the worst on record.

Read the whole thing here, if you dare.

A new approach on the Yukon

Commercial fishermen will have a 12-hour shot Tuesday, from noon to midnight, to harvest summer chum salmon in District 1 on the Lower Yukon River.

What's really interesting about this opener is that fishermen can use only beach seines and dipnets, rather than the usual gillnets.

The Alaska Board of Fisheries acted this year to authorize the new, nonlethal gear types as a way to allow chum fishing without seriously impacting the expected poor Chinook run.

Fishermen using beach seines and dipnets will be required to release incidentally caught Chinook back to the water immediately, and alive.

"In the event that a Chinook salmon is killed by these gear types, the dead Chinook salmon must be recorded on a fish ticket and forfeited to the state," says this press release.

Yukon notches strong fall chum, coho catches

Here are highlights from a Department of Fish and Game summary of the 2011 fall salmon season on the Yukon River:

• The commercial harvest of 238,979 fall chum salmon was the largest since 1995.

• The commercial harvest of 76,303 coho salmon was the largest since 1991.

• All salmon were sold "in the round" and no salmon roe was sold separately.

• The ex-vessel value of the catch was an excellent $2.1 million, including $1.6 million for fall chum and $478,960 for coho.

• A total of 410 permit holders participated in the fishery.

Almost lamprey time again on the Yukon

Lamprey fishing on the Yukon. Kwik'pak Fisheries photo

Looks like we'll see another commercial fishery for Arctic lamprey this year on the Yukon River.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today announced a catch limit of 44,080 pounds of lampreys.

The harvest could begin as soon as Oct. 31. Like last year, the buyer will be Kwik'pak Fisheries.

Pacific Fishing magazine in March published this summary of the 2010 lamprey fishery:

An experimental commercial fishery for Arctic lamprey in late November on the lower Yukon River produced the second-best result since the harvest began in 2003. Fishing with hand-held dipnets through holes sawed in river ice, 22 fishermen delivered 30,713 pounds of the anadromous, eel-like fish to processor Kwik'pak Fisheries, which operated a buying station at the village of Grayling. At $1.25 per pound, the harvest paid $38,391 with an average value per fisherman of $1,745, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported. The best lamprey harvest was 49,657 pounds worth $62,000 in 2003. Kwik'pak general manager Jack Schultheis says the lampreys are frozen in the round and sent into Asian and European food markets, with some demand also from research institutions.

Man found dead in Yukon after fish tender flips

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: St. Marys
Type: Death investigation
On 8/24/11 at approximately 0930 hours, St. Marys-based Alaska State Troopers were notified of an overdue Boreal Fisheries tender boat. The boat reportedly was supposed to have returned to the Boreal Fisheries dock, which is approximately 10 miles south of St. Marys on the Yukon River. The boat was last heard from at approximately 2300 hours on 8/23/11. At about 1040 hours, an AST Caravan from Bethel located the boat floating upside down and stationary approximately four miles downriver from Boreal Fisheries. The sole occupant and skipper of the vessel was reported to be Gerald Richardson Minock, 23, of Pilot Station. Approximately 10 boats and 30 searchers initially responded to the scene and searched the river between Pilot Station and Mountain Village. Weather conditions in the area last night were reported to be windy and rainy. At about 1245 hours, troopers were notified that two hunters located a deceased adult male in his early 20s floating in the middle of the Yukon River at the upper end of Thatcher Island below Mountain Village. The male was wearing a Boreal Fisheries life jacket. The body was transported to the St. Marys dock where, upon their return to the village at about 1530 hours, state troopers took possession of the body. The deceased male was positively identified by his next of kin as Minock. There were no obvious signs of trauma and alcohol does not appear to be a factor in this incident. Additional investigation by St. Marys troopers revealed that the 32-foot semi "V" hull with twin outboard motors appeared to have been overloaded, according to a fisherman who observed the boat when he offloaded fish around 2130 hours on 8/23/11. The transom reportedly was partially out of the water and the bow of the boat appeared to be low in the water, which resulted in only 6 to 8 inches of freeboard in the rough waters of the Yukon River. The state medical examiner's office was contacted and requested the body be transported to Anchorage for an autopsy. The body has been transported by state aircraft to Bethel and will be shipped commercially to Anchorage on the next available flight.

Here we go on the Yukon

Commercial fishing on the lower Yukon River opens tonight from 6 to midnight.

The target is chum salmon, but fishermen will be allowed to sell Chinook salmon they catch incidentally.

Here's the announcement from the Department of Fish and Game.

The Chinook catch is expected to be quite low.

Just how coveted is the king of kings?

The Anchorage-based online retailer FishEx is offering fresh Yukon king fillets at $42.95 a pound.

A few million for Yukon salmon failure?

The Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday included $5 million in a spending bill as disaster relief for the poor Chinook salmon runs on the Yukon River in 2008 and 2009.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, had asked the committee leadership for up to $10.8 million "for assistance to residents of the Yukon River drainage."

This potential aid outlay follows up Commerce Secretary Gary Locke's disaster declaration back in January.

Just how the $5 million would be divvied up, assuming that's the amount the full Congress ultimately appropriates, remains an open question.

State, federal agencies study Yukon water quality

Here's a press release from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation about an effort to assess water quality and habitat along 550 miles of the Yukon River.

This seems like important stuff considering the weak returns of not only king salmon this season, but reportedly fall chum as well.