Review of the Bristol Bay 2000 Salmon Fishery: Annual Salmon
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REVIEW OF THE BRISTOL BAY 2000 SALMON FISHERY ANNUAL SALMON MANAGEMENT REPORT TO THE ALASKA BOARD OF FISHERIES Regional Information ~e~ort'No. 2A00-34 Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries Central Region 333 Raspberry Road Anchorage, Alaska 995 18 December, 2000 1 Contribution 2A00-34 from the Anchorage Regional office. The Regional Information Report Series was established in 1987 to provide an informational access system for all unpublished divisional reports. These reports frequently serve diverse ad hoc information purposes or archive basic uninterpreted data. To accommodate timely reporting of recently collected information, reports in this series undergo only limited internal review and may contain preliminary data; this information may be subsequently finalized and published in the formal literature. Consequently, these reports should not be cited without the approval of the author or the Division of Commercial Fisheries. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................1 I1. 2000 COMMERCIAL SALMON FISHERY ............................................................................1 Sockeye Salmon................................................................................................ 2 NakKvi District ............................................................................................2 Egegik District ............................................................................................. 5 Ugashik District.......................................................................................... 11 Nushagak District ...................................................................................... 15 Togiak District .......................................................................................... 17 Chinook Salmon ............................................................... .. ............................... 18 Chum Salmon ................................................................................................... 19 Pink Salmon .................................................................................................... -20 Coho Salmon .................................................................................................... 20 200 1 Forecast .................................................................................................... 22 I11 . FIGURES 1. Bristol Bay area commercial salmon fishery management districts ................................. 24 IV. TABLES 1. Inshore commercial salmon harvest and escapement of sockeye salmon. by river system. in thousands of fish. Bristol Bay. 1998........................................................................... 25 2 . Inshore commercial salmon harvest and escapement of sockeye salmon. by river system. in thousands of fish. Bristol Bay. 1999.................................................... 26 3 . Inshore commercial salmon harvest and escapement of sockeye salmon, by river system, in thousands of fish. Bristol Bay. 2000 ........................................................................... 27 4 . Inshore commercial salmon harvest by district and species. in thousands of fish. Bristol Bay. 1998.............................................................................................................. 28 5 . Inshore commercial salmon harvest by district and species. in thousands of fish. Bristol Bay. 1999............................................................................................................. 29 6 . Inshore commercial salmon harvest by district and species. in thousands of fish. Bristol Bay. 2000 ............................................................................................................. 30 7. Salmon escapements in thousands of fish, by river system and species, compared with escapement goals and ranges, Bristol Bay, 1998....................................... 3 1 Salmon escapements in thousands of fish, by river system and species, compared with escapement goals and ranges, Bristol Bay, 1999........................................ 32 Salmon escapements in thousands of fish, by river system and species, compared with escapement goals and ranges, Bristol Bay, 2000 ........................................33 Sockeye salmon preseason forecast compared to total inshore run, by river system, in thousands of fish, Bristol Bay, 1998............................................................................ ..34 Sockeye salmon preseason forecast compared to total inshore run, by river system, in thousands of fish, Bristol Bay, 1999.. ........................................................................... ,35 Sockeye salmon preseason forecast compared to total inshore run, by river system, in thousands of fish, Bristol Bay, 2000.. ........................................................................... .36 Sockeye salmon preseason forecast of total run, escapement goals and expected harvest of major age classes by river system in thousands of fish, returning to Bristol Bay, 200 1............................................................................................... ..37 Historical commercial salmon harvest by species, in thousands of fish, Bristol Bay, 1980 -2000.. ....................................................................................................................... .38 Estimated exvessel value of the commercial salmon catch by species, in thousands of dollars, Bristol Bay, 1980-.2000.............................................................................................. 39 INTRODUCTION The Bristol Bay area includes all coastal waters and inland waters east of a line fiom Cape Newenham to Cape Menshikof (Figure 1) and is the largest sockeye salmon producing region in the world. It also produces substantial returns of other salmon species as well as herring. The Togiak herring fishery is the State's largest sac roe fishery. Bristol Bay is divided into five management districts: NaknekKvicchak, Egegrk and Ugashik Districts on the east side and Togiak, and Nushagak Districts on the west side. Associated with these districts are nine major rivers: Kvichak, Branch, Naknek, Egegk, Ugashlk, To& Igushlk, Wood, and Nushagak (Figure 1). Several districts are divided into sections. Sections provide more management flexibility in controlling exploitation of individual stocks when more than one river system contributes to the district's retum. The districts and sections are confined to areas near the river mouths in order'to minimize interceptions of salmon destined for other areas. Fishmg schedules are unique in each district and are established by regulation and emergency order (E.0.). In the last 20 years (1980-1999), Bristol Bay commercial salmon harvests have averaged 26 million sockeye salmon, 102 thousand chinook salmon, 1.1 million chum salmon, 1 million pink salmon (during even-numbered years), and 193 thousand coho salmon (Table 14). Subsistence catches for the past 20 years have averaged approximately 166,000 salmon per year. Approximately 80% of the subsistence catch are sockeye salmon. The 2000 salmon subsistence information has not been Illytabulated fiom surveys. It will be available at a later date. Bristol Bay sport fisheries target on chinook and coho salmon, but pmk, sockeye, and chum salmon are also taken. Approximately 45,000 salmon are harvested annually by sport£ishers in Bristol Bay. The management objective for all districts in Bristol Bay is to achieve escapement goals for major salmon species while providmg opportunities to harvest swplus kh. 2000 COMMERCIAL SALMON FISHERY In 2000, the Bristol Bay commercial salmon fishery produced a cumulative hestof 21.1 million fish (Table 6), worth approximately $8 1.1 million to the 1,992 set gdnet and 1,863 drift metpermit holders. This was the 3rd lowest exvessel value for the last 20 years (Table 15). The inshore run of sockeye salmon totaled approximately 28.4 donfish (Table 3) and was the 13~~ largest inshore return in the last 20 years. It was approximately 15% less than the preseason forecast of 33.4 million fish. The 2000 sockeye salmon harvest of 20.5 million was 29% less than the ten-year average. It is the third lowest harvest in the most recent 10 years. The sockeye salmon harvest accounted for 97% of the total salmon harvest in Bristol Bay. The Westside Districts experienced strong runs sigIllficanly higher than preseason forecasts. However, the Naknek-Kvichak District had the lowest peak year return since 1955. Sockeye salmon escapement in all but one system was within 20% of the point goals. The Kvichak River was sigtuficantly under its point goal; the final escapement was 1.8 million; less than the midrange of the 6.0 million goal (Table 9). There was not a directed chinook salmon fishery in any district this year. The chinook salmon harvests in all Bristol Bay districts, except Ege& were below average. The chinook salmon return was well below average in 2000. The 2000 chum salmon harvest of 381,000 fish was 67% below the 20-year average (Table 14). Chum salmon harvests have been declining since 1991. Escapements for all districts were average to below average. Bristol Bay pink salmon return in greater abundance during even-numbered years. The 2000 run produced a commercial harvest of only 57,000 (Table 14). The Bristol Bay coho salmon harvest for 2000 was 35% below the 20-year average but 18% above the 10-year average