2009 fishing review: poor performance, weak returns in some Alaska water.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: FISHING

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Consider the variables, consider the source, it's not an exact science, generally speaking, forecasts are only that, as are estimations, there are ups, and downs, exceptions, uncertainties, good news and bad, but we expect that. Well, usually.

Withstanding a few fill-in-the-blank details, this cryptic summation pretty much sums up the harvest results of the 2009 statewide commercial fishing season for the salmon, ground fish (pollock, cod), crab and halibut fisheries. Since before the first net was dropped in the water, industry leaders and economists have been paying close attention to key issues that effect the economics of Alaska's fishing industry, tracking key harvest indicators and making predictions for next year's season.

"The take-home message is that it was another good year for the state's commercial fishery, for the fishermen and for the processors," says Geron Bruce, assistant director for the Alaska Division of Commercial Fisheries. "It was a good run for most species of salmon. With a couple of exceptions."

POOR PERFORMANCE

One of these exceptions was for chinook (king) salmon. In keeping with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) predictions, communities along the lower Yukon River had a disappointing season, Bruce says, adding that it was in part attributed to an "outstanding run failure." Except for the run of summer chums (pink), the season was poor at best, with the chinook fishery being completely closed and the summer and fall chum openings being restricted in the amount of time when fishing was allowed in a region that has few other options for making money or harvesting subsistence foods. There are a number of other factors that potentially contributed to the poor performance of the fishery, Bruce says, including bycatch, but it is impossible to quantify them and he doubts that bycatch alone is the reason for the poor returns. Statewide, he says, the 2009 chinook runs were not very good, leading biologists to believe that various oceanographic and high sea conditions were not as favorable for survival as in other years, resulting from a lack of food, bad feeding conditions and colder water.

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Those in the Lower Yukon Region say that the ADF&G assessment of the season is an understatement and the chinook subsistence and commercial fishery was devastating for communities there, including Alakanuk, Emmonak, Grayling, Kotlik, Mountain Village, Hooper Bay and Nunam Iqua...