‘Peak’ of season and questions for ADF&G

The next two weeks will provide peak of the season coho (silver) salmon fishing for most Mat-Su Valley rivers and streams, and for the second straight year, bait fishing has been banned by emergency order on the Little Susitna River — before even one day of bait fishing was allowed.

According to the angler exit survey taken at the Little Susitna River Public Use Facility, coho salmon harvests have jumped up during the past week, with 88 coho salmon reported harvested on Thursday. Meanwhile, a few miles upstream at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s (ADF&G) Little Susitna River salmon counting weir, only 124 coho had escaped upstream through the weir for the entire season by the same date. This year marks the first time the weir has been operated in the lower river in more than 15 years.

In past conversations with retired ADF&G biologist Larry Engel, I recall him telling me that, with the weir operating in a lower river location, the mid-point for coho salmon passage through the weir ranged between Aug. 6 and Aug. 13. The current Little Susitna River coho salmon spawning escapement goal range is 10,100 to 17,700 fish, so if the coho count through the weir does not climb about 5,000 fish in the next week or 10 days, sport anglers should expect further restrictions or possibly a total closure of the Little Susitna River coho salmon fishery.

Schizophrenic ADF&G salmon management?

Earlier this week on Aug. 1, ADF&G authorized expanding commercial salmon harvest in a portion of the Northern District south of the Susitna River, with emergency order 2S-30-12 (http://tinyurl.com/9233e3f ).

According to past ADF&G testimony before the Board of Fisheries, commercial harvests during the first week of August in the Northern District often switch to a coho-dominated harvest. If coho salmon abundance is so low that the department is closing the use of bait on the river with the largest coho salmon spawning escapement goal in all of Upper Cook Inlet (Little Susitna River), why has the department authorized additional commercial harvest that may further jeopardize attaining the Little Susitna River coho salmon spawning escapement goal and Fish Creek sockeye salmon spawning escapement goal?

The interesting thing about this emergency order is that the Commercial Fish Division of ADF&G does not list any salmon abundance indicators to justify the order, only saying that the commissioner may allow two nets in the fishery rather than one. So, what is the emergency? Are ADF&G commercial managers wanting to “avoid” attaining the Little Susitna River coho salmon escapement goal and/or the Fish Creek sockeye salmon spawning escapement goal?

Managing by the plan, or not

According to the Northern District Salmon Management Plan, the department shall manage the Northern District commercial salmon fishery based on the abundance of sockeye salmon counted through the weirs on Larson, Chelatna and Judd lakes, or other salmon abundance indices as the department deems appropriate.

A problem in the plan is that the weirs located at Larson, Chelatna and Judd lakes are so far upriver that ADF&G managers claim they have no in-season management ability based on the weir counts. In other words, by the time significant numbers of sockeye salmon reach those weirs, the commercial sockeye salmon harvests are winding down sharply.

The plan does provide flexibility for the department to use other salmon indices at it deems appropriate. So, does ADF&G not deem it appropriate to use Little Susitna River weir coho salmon counts and the public use facility sport angler harvest survey to help manage a coho salmon-dominated August commercial fishery?

ADF&G is spending many thousands of dollars a year to count sockeye and coho salmon with the Fish Creek weir, located just a few miles above saltwater. Fish Creek weir has a much more appropriate run timing for management purposes than the weirs located at Larson, Chelatna and Judd lakes. At 20,000 to 70,000, the Fish Creek sockeye salmon escapement goal range is larger than the Larson Lake goal range of 15,000 to 50,000 fish and similar to the Judd Lake goal range of 25,000 to 55,000 fish and Chelatna Lake’s goal of 20,000 to 65,000 fish.

Once again, this raises the question, why is ADF&G not using the more timely Fish Creek sockeye weir counts to manage the Northern District commercial salmon fishery? Fish Creek weir is currently used to manage the Fish Creek personal use dipnet fishery and the Fish Creek and Knik Arm sport fisheries. Using the Fish Creek weir for commercial management would provide another tool with a longer period of escapement history , at no additional cost to the department.

In a recent document provided to the Alaska Board of Fisheries, the department showed its projection that the Fish Creek sockeye salmon goal will likely not be met in 2012. The popular Fish Creek dipnet fishery was not opened at all for the entire 2012 season and there is no sport fishery for salmon during the entire month of July on Fish Creek. Yet ADF&G continues to allow commercial fishing harvests with absolutely no management restrictions based on the sockeye salmon stock where management changes are most appropriate.

By their actions, the Commissioner of FIsh and Game and ADF&G commercial managers seem to place a higher priority on commercial salmon harvests than attaining Northern District (Mat-Su Valley) salmon spawning escapements. I’m sure Frontiersman readers would like to see reasonable explanations for the seemingly schizophrenic emergency orders mentioned above.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides (fish4salmon.com) is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member (matsuanglers.org) and member of the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission.