ADF&G Mid-August Fish Report

Norton Sound

Silver commercial catches in the early season have been like the last couple of years, but silver escapement counts at projects that are operational are better than the last couple of years and now the run does not look to be as strong as the department forecast. High water has prevented operation of all the southern Norton Sound counting tower projects for most of last week.

Unalakleet Subdistrict

Commercial Fishing: Harvest is 230 sockeye, 3,000 chum, 44,000 pink and 1,400 silver salmon by 35 permit holders.

Subsistence Fishing: Net fishing is open 7 days a week, except beach seining for salmon is closed.

Unalakleet River Floating Weir – No escapement goals yet established – Cooperative project; Fish & Game, United States BLM and NSEDC. Major funding provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Office of Subsistence Management.

Cumulative counts through August 15 were 111 kings, 372 sockeyes, 12,800 chums and 2,600 silvers. Project has been pulled. King, chum, and silver counts were the lowest in 12 years of counting and sockeye counts were 7th highest.

North River Tower – Camp J.B. Escapement goals: King 1,2002,600; Chum-No goal established; Pink 25,000; Silver 550-1,100 (aerial survey goal) – NSEDC project.

Cumulative counts through July 25 were 1,119 kings, 66 sockeyes, 1,100 chums, 687,000 pinks and 93 silvers. High water has prevented project operation.

Shaktoolik Subdistrict

Commercial Fishing: Harvest is 440 sockeye, 7,000 chum, 33,000 pink and 2,500 silver salmon by 25 permit holders.

Subsistence Fishing: Net fishing is open 7 days a week, except beach seining for salmon is closed.

Shaktoolik Tower – No escapement goals yet established – NSEDC project.

Cumulative counts through July 22 were 975 kings, 159 sockeyes, 13,329 chums and 1.4 million pinks. High water has prevented project operation.

Norton Bay Subdistrict

Commercial Fishing: Harvest is 1 king, 35 sockeye, 3,500 chum, 3,000 pink and 36 silver salmon by 6 permit holders.

Subsistence Fishing: Net fishing is open 7 days a week.

Inglutalik River Tower – No escapement goals yet established – NSEDC project.

Cumulative counts through August 14 were 180 kings, 6,200 chums, 40,000 pinks and 303 silvers. Crew was unable to count for 4 days last week because of high water and again starting late on August 14..

Ungalik River Tower – No escapement goals yet established – NSEDC project.

Cumulative counts through August 14 were 891 kings, 42 sockeyes, 17,000 chums, 618,000 pinks and 5,565 silvers. Crew was unable to count for five days last week because of high water and again starting on August 15.

Elim Subdistrict

Commercial Fishing: Harvest is 2 king, 85 sockeye, 3,600 chum, 3,000 pink and 150 silver salmon by 12 permit holders.

Subsistence Fishing: Open 7 days a week.

Kwiniuk River Tower – Camp Joel - Escapement goals: King 250; Chum 9,100 – 32,600; Pink 8,400; Silver 650-1,300 (aerial survey goal). Fish & Game project.

Cumulative counts through August 15 were 36 kings, 15 sockeyes, 9,400 chums, 412,000 pinks, 2,000 silvers. The historical average midpoint of silver passage at the tower is August 22.

Golovin Subdistrict

Commercial Fishing: Harvest is 160 sockeye, 8,700 chum, 1,600 pink and 120 silver salmon by 10 permit holders.

Subsistence Fishing: Open 7 days a week.

Niukluk River Tower – Escapement goals: Chum 23,000; Silver 750-1,600 (aerial survey goal that includes Ophir Creek) – NSEDC project.

Cumulative counts through August 15 were 42 kings, 900 sockeyes, 37,000 chums, 305,000 pinks and 450 silvers. The historical average midpoint of silver passage at the tower is August 19.

Nome Subdistrict

Commercial Fishing: Harvest is 1 king, 65 sockeye, 1,400 chum, 25 pink and 115 silver salmon by three permit holders.

Subsistence Fishing: Marine waters are open 7 days a week. There are no catch limits when fishing in marine waters. Net fishing schedule in all freshwater subsistence areas is from 6 p.m. Wednesday until 6 p.m. Monday. Check the subsistence salmon permit for the fresh water catch limits that vary by river. Beach seines are no longer a legal gear. Cast nets, dip nets, and set gillnets can be used during the net fishing schedule, but only in the subsistence areas.

Nome River Weir - Escapement goal: Chum 1,600 – 5,300; Pink 13,000 – Fish & Game project.

Cumulative counts through August 15 were 4 kings, 13 sockeyes, 1,900 chums, 50,000 pinks and 215 silvers. The historical average first quarter point of silver passage at the weir is August 25.

Snake River Weir - Escapement goal: Chum 2,000 – 4,200 – NSEDC project.

Cumulative counts through August 13 were 3 kings, 364 sockeyes, 4,300 chums, 47,000 pinks and 58 silvers. The historical average first quarter point of silver passage at the weir is August 27.

Port Clarence District

All net fishing is closed in the lower Kuzitrin River from 300 yards upriver of the confluence with the Pilgrim River to the Kuzitrin River mouth and the entire Pilgrim River and its tributaries until further notice. Salmon Lake is closed to all salmon fishing.

Elsewhere subsistence fishing is open 7 days a week.

Pilgrim River Floating Weir: Escapement goal: Sockeye 6,800 – 36,000 – NSEDC project.

Cumulative counts through August 14 were 31 kings, 1,518 sockeyes, 4,780 chums, 6,167 pinks and 2 silvers. Project pulled. The only year with lower sockeye passage was in 2009 when 953 sockeyes were counted.

Kotzebue

Catch is now 323,000 chum salmon and expected to finish closer to 400,000 chums than the department forecast of 100,000 to 200,000 chums harvested. As seen in Norton Sound the chum salmon run has shown a late surge. Because of buyer capacity, fishing periods are limited to eight hours daily.