Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2018 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2017 Season
Author : Rich Brenner
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 100 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (14 download)
Book Synopsis Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2018 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2017 Season by : Rich Brenner
Download or read book Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2018 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2017 Season written by Rich Brenner and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report contains a detailed review of Alaska's 2017 commercial salmon season and forecasts for 2018. The Alaska all-species salmon harvest for 2017 totaled 225.7 million, which was about 21.4 million more than the preseason forecast of 204.3 million. This combined harvest was composed of 262,000 Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, 53.6 million sockeye salmon O. nerka, 5.3 million coho salmon O. kisutch, 141.6 million pink salmon O. gorbuscha, and a record 25 million chum salmon O. keta. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is expecting a decrease in commercial salmon harvests in 2018, mostly due to a decrease in pink salmon harvests compared to 2017. The 2018 total commercial salmon harvest (all species) projection of 147.3 million is expected to include 99,000 Chinook salmon in areas outside Southeast Alaska, 51.6 million sockeye salmon, 4.9 million coho salmon, 69.7 million pink salmon, and 21 million chum salmon. Thus, compared to 2017 commercial harvests, the projected 2018 commercial harvests are expected to be as follows: pink salmon, 72 million fewer; sockeye salmon, 2.0 million fewer; coho salmon, 301,000 fewer; and chum salmon, 4.0 million fewer. When the appropriate data were available, harvest forecasts were arrived at through quantitative projections based on information of previous spawning levels, smolt outmigrations, returns of sibling age classes, and recent survival rates observed for hatchery releases. Other projections were based on averages of recent catch levels. Fishing effort influences average catch levels, and effort is partly determined by market conditions in addition to the size of salmon runs. Therefore, these projections may not be indicative of actual harvest levels.