ABOUT/ VISIT/ FORECASTS & UPDATES/ EMPLOYMENT/ SCHOLARSHIPS/ SHOP/ CONTACT 2021 Harvest Updates August 12, 2021 – The chum return is over, and although it was better than last year, it was a poor return by historical standards. We are waiting for updated numbers from ADF&G before we can start to analyze the return. No samples were taken this week. Checkout the 2021 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns. Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 30th of June. In order to conserve enough chum for broodstock, we did not have cost recovery fishing in Gastineau Channel this year. Total harvest to date is just over 2.9 million pounds, and we are done with chum cost recovery for the season. This is well under our 6.0 million pound goal, but a great improvement over last year. Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/21, and it concluded on 8/10 with a total collection of just over 135 million eggs. After coming up short of enough chum in the channel for broodstock in 2019 and 2020, this years’ eggtake was a welcomed success. The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 14 and we have passed 4,916 sockeye to date. Speel has met its lower bound of the escapement goal, but there are still very few fish at the hatchery. We still need a little over 1,000 more females for broodstock, and are just past the historic peak of the run. Cost recovery at Snettisham started on the 8th of August. To date, there has been only one harvest amounting to just over 10,000 lbs. We are not expecting many more cost recovery harvests this year based on the poor forecast and how slow the fish have been moving into the hatchery. Until we have enough females for broodstock, we will only be harvesting the excess males. We expect to only have two to three more small harvests for the season as we are past the peak of the run and there are so few fish around. Due to the extremely poor sockeye return to Snettisham, this is the last harvest update of the season. The graphs will be updated as more information comes in, but there will be no more harvest reporting in the narrative format. August 5, 2021 – Gillnet chum catch numbers are very low and near the end of the run through the seventh opener of the season. The overall run looks like it will end up being slightly over the poor forecast for 2021, but we will wait for updated numbers from ADF&G before we can analyze the return. No samples were taken this week. Checkout the 2021 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns. Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 30th of June. In order to conserve enough chum for broodstock, we did not have cost recovery fishing in Gastineau Channel this year. Total harvest to date is just over 2.9 million pounds, and we are done with chum cost recovery for the season. This is well under our 6.0 million pound goal, but a great improvement over last year. Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/21. We have collected 104 million eggs to date. The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 14 and we have passed 3,289 sockeye to date. Speel should meet the lower bound of escapement early this year, but we are still seeing very few fish at the hatchery. There has been no cost recovery at Snettisham hatchery to date as we are trying to conserve enough fish for broodstock. There may be some cost recovery in the next few weeks depending on fish presence and when we meet our broodstock needs. The next update will be Thursday the 12th of August. July 29, 2021 – Gillnet chum catch numbers remain low in both Lynn Canal and Taku Inlet through the sixth opener of the season. Lynn Canal remains slightly above this year’s forecast and the Taku is below the already poor forecast for that district. Sample information from the 7/25 gillnet opener is as follows: Lynn Canal - average weight of 5.7 pounds and sex ratio of 31% male and 69% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 4% - 5's, 86% - 4's and 10% - 3's. Taku Inlet – There was no sample taken for SW31. Checkout the 2021 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns. Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 30th of June. In order to conserve enough fish for broodstock, we did not have cost recovery fishing in Gastineau Channel this year. Total harvest to date is just under 2.9 million pounds. There will only be a few days left of fishing at Amalga based on average run timing and fish presence. Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/21. We have collected 62 million eggs to date. The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 14 and we have passed 196 sockeye to date. Some cost recovery at Snettisham will start in the next few weeks depending on fish presence and broodstock collection. We are not expecting a large return to the hatchery, so we are prioritizing brood collection over cost recovery harvest. The next update will be Thursday the 5th of August. July 22, 2021 – Gillnet chum catch numbers remained low in both Lynn Canal and Taku Inlet through the fifth opener of the season. We have now surpassed last years’ overall catches of chum in both districts, but are still well below the ten-year average. Lynn Canal - average weight of 5.9 pounds and sex ratio of 34% male and 66% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 6% - 5's, 94% - 4's and 0% - 3's. Taku Inlet – average weight of 6.0 and sex ratio of 36% male and 64% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 8% - 5's, 90% - 4's and 2% - 3's. Checkout the 2021 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns. Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 30th of June. In order to conserve enough fish for broodstock, we do not plan to have cost recovery fishing in Gastineau Channel this year. Total harvest to date is 2.6 million pounds. Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/21. We have collected 16 million eggs to date. The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 14 and we have passed 65 sockeye to date. Some cost recovery at Snettisham will start in the next few weeks’ dependent on fish presence and broodstock collection. We are not expecting a large return to the hatchery, so we are prioritizing brood collection over cost recovery harvest. The next update will be Thursday the 29th of July. July 15, 2021 – Gillnet chum catch numbers remained low in both Lynn Canal and Taku Inlet. Although low compared to the ten-year average, the preliminary catch numbers to date in Lynn Canal have now surpassed our total preseason forecast for common property catches in District 115. Lynn Canal - average weight of 6.3 pounds and sex ratio of 43% male and 57% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 8% - 5's, 88% - 4's and 4% - 3's. Taku Inlet – average weight of 6.4 and sex ratio of 47% male and 53% female. The age comp was 1% - 6's, 5% - 5's, 91% - 4's and 3% - 3's. Checkout the 2021 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns. Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 30th of June. In order to conserve enough fish for broodstock, we do not plan to have cost recovery fishing in Gastineau Channel this year. Total harvest to date is 2.2 million pounds. Although cost recovery fishing is going well, and we are above forecast, it is unlikely we will meet our goal of 6 million pounds. Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery will start on 7/21. The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 14 and we have passed 0 sockeye to date. We have yet to see any sockeye at Snettisham Hatchery. There will likely be very limited cost recovery on sockeye early in the run this year as we want to make sure we secure enough fish for broodstock. Checkout the 2021 sockeye forecast for more info on what we expect from this return. The next update will be Thursday the 22nd of July. July 8, 2021 – Gillnet chum catch numbers remain low in both Lynn Canal and Taku Inlet. The canal saw a better show of chums than last year for this stat week, but Taku Inlet chum catch remains well below the already poor forecast. Lynn Canal - average weight of 6.4 pounds and sex ratio of 47% male and 53% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 4% - 5's, 92% - 4's and 4% - 3's. Taku Inlet – average weight of 6.8 pounds and sex ratio of 57% male and 43% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 7% - 5's, 91% - 4's and 2% - 3's. Checkout the 2021 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns. Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 30th of June. In order to conserve enough fish for broodstock, we will not have cost recovery fishing in Gastineau Channel this year. Total harvest to date is 708,000 pounds. Although catches are poor, the overall run looks like it may come in better than last year. At this time, we are not planning to ask for any management action by ADF&G Sport or Commercial Fisheries for broodstock conservation measures. The next update will be Thursday the 15th of July. July 1, 2021 - Gillnet chum catch numbers were very low at both Lynn Canal and Taku Inlet through the second opener of the season. Trolling at Homeshore has had very limited effort. Sample information from the 6/27 gillnet opener is as follows: Lynn Canal - average weight of 7.2 pounds. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 5% - 5's, 93% - 4's and 2% - 3's. The sex ratio data was not valid for this week’s sample from Lynn Canal. Based on roe recovery information and Amalga cost recovery sampling, we are on track for a normal sex ratio for this stat week. Taku Inlet – average weight of 7.6 pounds and a sex ratio of 67% males and 33% females. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 10% - 5's, 90% - 4's and 0% - 3's. Checkout the 2021 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns. Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 30th of June. In order to conserve enough fish for broodstock, we do not plan to have cost recovery fishing in Gastineau Channel this year unless the run comes in well above forecast. Total harvest to date is 156,000 pounds. The next update will be Thursday the 8th of July. June 24, 2021 – Chum catch numbers appear to be well below forecast for Lynn Canal and Taku Inlet after the first opener of the season. There have been a handful of trollers fishing homeshore the past week with a slow start to the season. Sample information from the 6/20 gillnet opener is as follows: Lynn Canal – Average weight of 7.9 pounds and a sex ratio of 64% male and 36% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 7% - 5's, 93% - 4's and 0% - 3's. Taku Inlet – Average weight of 8.4 pounds. Sex and age information was not collected due to very low catch numbers. Checkout the 2021 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns. Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor will be starting between the 26th of June and the 1st of July dependent on fish presence. We do not plan to have cost recovery fishing in Gastineau Channel this year unless the run comes in well above forecast. The next update will be Thursday the 1st of July. June 17, 2021 – The first gillnet opener of the season starts this Sunday the 20th of June. The next update will be Thursday the 24th of June. Douglas Island Pink and Chum, Inc. 2697 Channel Drive, Juneau, AK, 99801 Main Office: (907) 463-5114 Visitor Center: (907) 463-4810 Administrative Office Hours: 7am-4pm (AKST) Monday-Friday