SSRAA Update SW 31

Your Weekly

In-Season Update

Troll

ADF&G reports, "The first Chinook salmon opening of the general summer troll season began on July 1 to target approximately 38,000 fish. The fishery was open for Chinook salmon retention for 4 days. Landing reports indicate a similar number of vessels participated in the fishery compared with the previous season.

Preliminary fish ticket data reported through July 31 indicates a total of 464 troll permits have landed 44,800 Chinook salmon. Harvest reported on fish tickets for other species include 233,100 coho and 180,700 chum salmon. Average prices are $8.04/lb for Chinook, $1.92/lb for coho and $0.69 /lb for chum salmon. Current average weights are 10.7 lb for Chinook, 5.0 lb for coho, and 7.2 lb for chum salmon. Chinook salmon average weight is above the 2024 average by 0.1 lb but below the 5-year average by 0.1 lb, while coho salmon average weight is equal to the 2024 average but above 5-year average by 0.2 lb. Chum salmon average weight is below the 2024 and 5-year averages by 0.2 lb and 0.4 lb.

The current regional power troll coho salmon catch rate for this week (SW 31) is 99 coho/boat/day, with the highest catch rate in the Central Outside area at 112/boat/day, followed by the Southern Outside area at 68/boat/day."

Table 1. 2025 Summery Troll Fishery data. *These numbers are preliminary and updated daily. Data from Southeast Alaska Salmon Summer Troll Fishery Update, Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

For SSRAA released coho salmon, the highest contributions to the summer troll fishery are from Klawock (78%) and Neets Bay (13%).

Table 2. Coded-wire tag expansions of SSRAA coho salmon caught in the summer troll fishery by release site, stat week, and district.

In the Neets Bay chum troll fishery, directed chum landings reported on fish tickets for the summer troll fishery in West Behm Canal and Neets Bay during SW 31 indicate 24 vessels have taken 12,900 chum salmon from 43 landings at a rate of 300 fish/landing. The seasonal total for this area indicates that 58 vessels have taken 169,400 chum salmon from 516 landings at a rate of 328 fish per landing.

Otolith data collected from the chum troll fishery indicate a catch composition of 63% 3yos, 32% 4yos, and 5% 5yos with an average weight of 7.2 lbs for SW 31, compared to 7.4 lbs for SW 30.

Figure 1. Age-class composition of chum salmon harvested in the Neets Bay chum troll fishery by stat week.

For more information on the troll fishery, follow the links:

Summer Troll

Blue Sheet Summary

Chum

Figure 2. SSRAA chum salmon 2025 forecast (orange bars) vs. the 2025 return (blue bars) to date by release site. Error bars represent the high and low range of the forecast by site.

Gillnet

Catches decreased at Tree Point, from 31,000 last week to 17,000 chum salmon this week, which is about half of the 10-year average. Nakat 4yos still make up a majority of the catch (47%), followed by Nakat 3yos (23%) and wild chum salmon (21%). The average weight decreased slightly from 7.6 lbs last week to 7.3 lbs this week.

Figure 3. Chum salmon catch in the 101 gillnet fishery in 2025 (red bar) compared to the 10-year average (grey bar).

In district 6, catches are well below the 10-year average, with 4,000 chum salmon harvested in SW 31. The catch composition from SW 30 was 25% Neets Bay 3yos, 31% Burnett 4yos, 5% Burnett 3yos, and 19% Anita 4yos. The average weight also rose slightly from 5.9 lbs in SW 29 to 6.2 lbs in SW 30.

Figure 4. Chum salmon catch in the 106 gillnet fishery for 2025 (red line) compared to the 10-year average (grey bars).

In district 8, the catch composition from SW 30 was 77% Anita Bay 4yos, 15% Anita Bay 3yos, and 4% Burnett 3yos. The average weight for SW 30 was 7.9 lbs.

ADF&G advisory announcements with the most up-to-date information and catch numbers can be found here.

Seine

In the 101-seine fishery, 52% of the catch is attributed to non-marked chum salmon, which includes wild and MIC chum salmon. The remainder of the catch is 14% Kendrick 4yos, 11% Neets Bay 4yos, and 6% Neets Bay 3yos, with small contributions from other SSRAA sites. The average weight decreased from 7.9 lbs last week to 7.5 lbs this week.

In district 2, Kendrick 3 and 4yos made up 14 and 69% of the catch, respectively, with an average weight of 7.3 lbs

Out on the coast, Port Asumcion chum salmon made up 73% of the 103-seine catch, with PA 4yos making up 58% of the catch and 3yos making up 15% of the catch in SW 31. The average weight was 6.4 lbs. In district 4, wild chum salmon made up 32% of the catch this week, followed by Kendrick 4yos (25%), Burnett 4yos (13%), and Nakat and Port Asumcion 4yos (each 7%). The average weight was 6.9lbs. Most samples from northern D4 have not been read yet.

The 107-seine fishery saw 48% of the catch attributed to Neets Bay 3yos, followed by 27% Anita Bay 4yos and 15% Anita Bay 3yos. The average weight for SW 31 was 7.1 lb, up from 6.5 lb last week.

ADF&G Advisory Annoucements

Cost Recovery

Cost recovery efforts are ongoing at Neets Bay, Burnett Inlet, and Port Asumcion. To date, approximately 8.6 million pounds of chum salmon have been harvested, putting us at 73% of our cost recovery forecast of 11.8 million pounds.

Figure 5. SSRAA summer chum cost recovery actual (blue) vs. forecasted (red) harvest in pounds by for all SSRAA sites combined. Numbers inside the bars represent the total actual and forecasted harvest in pounds.

By site, Burnett Inlet is currently at 78% of the total cost recovery forecast, with 2.3 million pounds harvested to date. The most recent cost recovery harvest on 7/19 was 84% 4yos and 16% 3yos with an average weight of 7.5 lbs and 50% male. At Neets Bay, harvest slowed this week while we focused on securing our broodstock behind the barrier net. In total, 2.85 million pounds have been harvested, or 50% of the forecast. A sample collected from the harvest on July 27th noted a shift to 3yos, which made up 64% of the harvest, followed by 4yos at 30% and 5yos at 6%. In Port Asumcion, 300,000 pounds were harvested in SW 31, putting us at a total of 2.1 million pounds, or 131% of forecast.

Figure 6. SSRAA summer chum cost recovery actual (green) vs. forecasted (grey) harvest in pounds by release site. Numbers above the green bar represent the harvest in pounds.

Broodstock

The 2025 broodstock goal is 213 million summer chum eggs, with site-specific targets of 130 million from Neets Bay and 83 million from Burnett Inlet. Egg take began last week at both locations, and a combined total of 37 million eggs have been collected to date.

• Neets Bay – 31 million eggs collected (24% of goal)

• Burnett Inlet – 6 million eggs collected (8% of goal)

Egg take operations are expected to continue through most of August.

Figure 6. SSRAA broodstock goal (red) vs. actual (blue) number of eggs collected by site.

Summary

We are currently at 65% of the SSRAA summer chum forecast, with approximately 3.2 million chum salmon harvested to date. The harvest through SW 31 typically represents 68% of the total return. Please note that catch numbers from the most recent seine opener are not included, as this fishery is ongoing in some areas.

Figure 7. SSRAA summer chum return by stat week (A.) and cumulatively (B.) for actual (red) vs. forecasted (black) numbers.

Table 3. SSRAA Chinook, coho, and chum salmon contributions by release site, gear group, and fishery.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I will be trying to update the SSRAA website weekly to reflect the information shared in these updates. The best way to reach me is via email at tfrost@ssraa.org or by calling the main office at 907-225-9605.

Happy Fishing!