While Lynn Canal commercial fishermen enjoyed bumper returns of sockeye and hatchery chum this year, king and coho salmon – species favored by local anglers –returned in diminished numbers.
Rich Chapell, Haines sportfish biologist for Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said low marine survival is the suspected reason that Chilkat king salmon didn’t meet escapement goals for the second time in three years.
Fish and Game estimates 1,627 kings returned in 2012, short of…
