There will be no summer coho closure for Southeast trollers this season.
The Alaska Department of Fish & Game announced on Tuesday (8-6-24) that the summer troll season will continue without the usual mid-August break to allow coho to move into their home rivers and streams to spawn.
The return of salmon to natal rivers – known as “escapement” – has been sufficient, according to area troll management biologist Grant Hagerman. In a news release, Hagerman wrote that based on early-season escapement data “the department has determined that a troll closure is not necessary at this time for coho salmon conservation or allocation.”
Commercial trolling for king salmon, meanwhile, will remain closed. ADF&G now estimates that 82,000 so-called “treaty chinook” were landed by trollers during the first summer opening between July 1 and July 8. “Treaty chinook” refers to the number of kings allocated to trollers under an international agreement with Canada – the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Commercial trollers have around 15,000 treaty kings left in their annual allocation, and ordinarily would be given a second opportunity to catch them this summer. However, the Southeast Alaska sport fishery has exceeded its allocation of kings by almost the same amount – 14,000 fish – and under current rules those fish are deducted from the troll allocation.
The situation has prompted a strong response from the Alaska Trollers’ Association, who attribute much of the sport overharvest to the Southeast guided sport industry.
More news on the developing king salmon allocation conflict will be coming from KCAW in the next few days.
