Fishermen in Lutak Inlet saw a bumper run of sockeye salmon in the last two weeks of August as more than 24,000 fish passed the weir between Aug. 22 and Aug. 31—a trend that reminds old timers of the run’s historic strength.
“We definitely were not expecting this,” said Nicole Zeiser, biologist for the Haines area Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The run, and the larger size of the fish, is noteworthy because it looks more like historical returns up the Chilkoot River, which included two runs and bigger fish. This summer the run began to taper off on Aug. 13 with a weir count of 66, 355 fish. When the second push of fish came, more than 1,000 fish were passing through the weir each day.
“Historically, Chilkoot used to have a bi-modal run, an early run and a late run,” Zeiser said. “In recent years, you don’t see that early run anymore. It starts trickling in and it spikes. The count peaks and then they drop. It’s hard to say if it’s a new run or a late push of fish.”
Zeiser said evidence that it’s a different run is the size, sex and appearance of the fish.
“They’re big fresh bright fish, all males. That’s usually what you see at the beginning of a run. I can’t say, scientifically, it’s a new run. It appears as if it could be. We just haven’t really seen that trend in recent years.”
Fisherman Steve Fossman was happy to see larger sockeye returning at such a late date. “I was pleased to see the size of the fish compared to the last several years when they were really small,” Fossman said. “To see our fish getting a little bigger, one would think that’s a good sign.”
Longtime fisherman Jim Szymanski, now retired, said years ago the run used to include what’s known colloquially as “blue backs.”
“It was the most marvelous shade of blue found in nature, the prettiest sockeyes in the world,” Szymanski said. “They were generally a pound or two bigger and generally came in late. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them in any numbers.”
It’s unclear how long ago the run arrived in two stages. Szymanksi said if he ventured a guess, he’d be making something up. Zeiser said she’s still looking for historical data to see how far back those runs appeared, and how many fish returned.
Former management biologist Mark Sogge said distinctions between the early and late run started to disappear 15 to 20 years ago.
“It started to vanish somewhere in the 2000s for reasons people don’t know,” Sogge said. “If you look at escapement records you could see a double bump like that which I always thought was a good sign of a healthy system.”
Retired biologist Ray Staska managed the fishery for 22 years and witnessed the decline of the runs. He blames seiners intercepting sockeye at Hawk Inlet, an intersection area for migrating salmon on the backside of Admiralty Island. “Slowly and surely the early run started to diminish, unfortunately with the help of interception by the purse seine fishery at the Hawk Inlet shoreline,” he said.
In the 1990s, Fish and Game had separate escapement goals for the early and late runs, with a maximum combined escapement goal of 91,500. Each run was managed as separate units, according to a 2009 Fish and Game report that noted that weir counts averaged 66,273 sockeye escapement between 1976 and 2008. Between 1994 and 2000, escapement was very low, averaging just over 30,000. A low run in 1995 prompted mark-and-recapture studies that indicated weir counts to be nearly twice as low as mark- recapture estimates.
As of Tuesday, roughly 90,500 sockeye returned to Chilkoot Lake, above the upper end escapement goal of 86,000.
“This was definitely unusual. It’s pretty exciting,” Zeiser said. “Unfortunately, we went over the top end of the escapement goal, but not by much and it will not adversely affect future returns.”
Long-time subsistence fisherman Craig Loomis also remembers the bi-modal run up the Chilkoot.
“The sockeye used to start around the first of June, end of May like they do at the Copper River. They called them blue backs. They were big males. There were king salmon going up that river when I was a kid.”
Even further back, between 1900 and 1920, average sockeye harvest in northern Southeast Alaska was 1.5 million fish, according to the Fish and Game report. The majority of the harvest originated from the Chilkat and Chilkoot rivers.
“In comparison to the early years of the fishery, the average sockeye salmon harvest for northern Southeast Alaska between 1980 and 2008 was 0.44 million fish, of which an average of 89,000 and 93,000 fish originated from Chilkoot and Chilkat lakes, respectively,” the report states.
“We’d watch hundreds of sockeye going up that creek,” Loomis said. “There’s no fish here anymore, not like they used to be.”
Fisherman Bill Thomas thinks the upper end of the escapement is too low. “Escapement goals were higher and we achieved them,” he said of past fishing. “The minimum escapement should be 80,000, max 110,000.”
Staska agrees that escapement goals and returns used to be higher, but that biologists also need to avoid exceeding carrying capacity and that the two runs were managed differently.
“My god, there were way more fish entering that system and getting good returns from it,” Staska said of fishing in the early 1900s. “But it’s complicated because you have to be careful not to exceed the carrying capacity. The early run made up 25 percent of the run and it would spawn in the upper river. The rest of the run would spawn in the lake itself. They all have to migrate into the lake and rear for one to two years. The zooplankton has to be monitored carefully.”
Fish and Game biologists determine new escapement goals based on factors such as food availability, fry counts and light penetration in Chilkoot Lake. Escapement goals were 80,000 to 100,000 from 1976 to 1980. The current range of 38,000 to 86,000 was established in 2009.
Zeiser has been opening the fishery up to the mouth of the river five days a week to adjust for the pulse of fish. She says the run started to slow down Tuesday morning.
“What I gathered out on the fishing grounds yesterday was fishermen reported they are starting to see more females this week,” Zeiser said. “The fish aren’t as bright and fresh looking as they were last week. It might be an indication that it’s slowing down.”
Things aren’t as bright for Chilkat River sockeye. Escapement up the Chilkat River remains well below average and Zeiser has implemented time and area restrictions. “However, there’s been an increase of sockeye catches in the fishwheels and reports of lots of sockeye in the Chilkat River main stem areas and tributaries.”
Zeiser said she’s hopeful that they’ll reach the bottom end of the escapement goal of 70,000 fish. Currently 28,000 sockeye have made it up river, with still more than half of the run remaining. The 10- year average for Chilkat sockeye escapement is 64,000.
“We’re at about 50 percent of the run. The Chilkat is a later run. We have all of September and October,” Zeiser said. “Right now, we should be managing for fall dogs and coho but we’re still conserving for Chilkat sockeye salmon. I feel like they’re running a week late this year.”
Fish buyers are paying $2 per pound for sockeye, up from $1.90 last year. Preliminary estimated harvest is 75,000 sockeye so far this year. The 10-year average up to this point is 137,000 sockeye. Reduced area and time, night closures and gear restrictions have contributed to lower harvests since 2018 when Chilkat king salmon were designated as stocks of concern.