Lynn Canal drift gillnetters will set out Sunday morning for the fishery’s opener expecting slightly better returns than last year and increased landing prices.
King salmon management restrictions are unchanged and skyrocketing fuel and gear costs are likely to eat into profits, but fishermen said favorable fish prices could help offset those expenses.
Juneau’s Douglas Island Pink and Chum hatchery is projecting a summer run of up to 2.2 million chum at release sites in Lynn Canal and a commercial harvest of 795,000 fish. That’s below long-term and recent averages, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, but up from the past two years.
Haines gillnetter Dawson Evenden said he’s optimistic about the season because he heard salmon returns would be better this summer than last and prices would be comparably high. The most commonly targeted species in the Lynn Canal — chum and sockeye salmon — landed at above-average prices last season.
OBI Seafoods, which has closed its Excursion Inlet cannery for the second consecutive year but will send tenders to the Lynn Canal, declined to provide information about this season’s pricing, and Haines Packing Company could not be reached by press time. But a handful of fishermen confirmed they’re hearing that prices will be high.
“All the rumors for price that I’m hearing have been good for this year,” said Haines gillnetter Will Prisciandaro. “It seems like there’s a need for chum… The market for salmon seems to be strong everywhere.”
Longtime Lynn Canal gillnetter Mark Saldi, a Skagway resident, said rumors about pricing often swirl ahead of the opener but that he expects prices to be up where they left off last year. He said he heard they were good in other parts of Alaska where fisheries have already opened.
Last year Haines Packing Company’s prices were well above the recent statewide average. Chum topped out at $1.15 per pound; sockeye went for $2; pinks sold at $0.35 and coho at $1.75.
Along with expected fish prices, fuel costs are staying high. Small Boat Harbor diesel now sits at $6.05 a gallon for the first 100 gallons, $6.00 for gallons 100 through 300 and $5.95 after that.
“Fuel’s up $1.40 since last year,” Prisciandaro said. “It’s definitely going to take a little extra profit away, but if we do get good (landing) prices, I’m hoping it all evens out.”
Halibut fisherman Dennis Gudmundson recently returned from what he said was his most expensive trip ever due to fuel prices. It cost $1,500, about 50% higher than in average years past, he said. (Longliners, few of whom live in Haines, fish farther out than gillnetters, requiring more fuel.)
Evenden said fuel could cost more than $1,000 per trip this year. He refuels about every two weeks.
For the fourth straight year, there will be early season restrictions on Lynn Canal gillnetting to limit bycatch of Chilkat king salmon, which the state Board of Fisheries designated as a stock of concern in 2018 after six years of escapement failures.
The Chilkat king run has met the state’s escapement goal range for three years in a row but is expected to fall short this season due to a small parent-year brood in 2017.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game commercial fisheries biologist Nicole Zeiser said “we’re not out of the woods yet” regarding the Chilkat king stock and the state likely will maintain early season gillnet fishery restrictions in coming years. The parent brood of next year’s king run was the lowest on record.
Zeiser said by mid-July the state will be “safe to lift restrictions” and will shift to making management decisions based on sockeye escapement numbers in the Chilkat and Chilkoot watersheds.
Gillnetting is restricted to two days per week through July 23 in the Eldred Rock Lighthouse area and through July 16 in the Postage Stamp area south of Berner’s Bay and at Boat Harbor near William Henry Bay. The fishery will be closed 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. and a six-inch maximum mesh restriction will be in place for those periods.
The state is forecasting average runs of local sockeye and coho. Last year sockeye returns were low until a late-season bumper run in Lutak Inlet. The Chilkat run fell below the state’s escapement goal for the second straight year but the Chilkoot run exceeded the state’s upper target escapement bound.
The Chilkat River fall chum run hit a low in 2020, failing to meet the state’s escapement range for the first time in 20 years. Saldi said 2020 “was my worst year in 38 years by a longshot” for chum. But he added that overall returns and prices were up last year and he’s expecting decent returns again this year.
The state didn’t forecast the 2022 Chilkat chum run due to an issue with data collection from the incoming brood’s parent year.
The Lynn Canal gillnet fishery opens June 19. The Dungeness crab fishery opened Wednesday. Several gillnetters also set crab pots.
On the docks Tuesday, Evenden voiced enthusiasm about the season. “The crabbers are really excited to head out tomorrow at 8 a.m., and the gillnetters are super pumped to head out on Father’s Day.”