Sitka advisort committee meeting

[John Murray]

For those trollers in Sitka that want to learn about troll proposals for Board of Fish meeting end of Febuary,the Sitka F+G advisory committee is having a meeting this Thursday at the Sitka Sound Science center@6;30

[John Murray]

I should have said learn and discuss.

[Salty]

An interesting point came up last night at the Sitka Fish and Game Advisory Committee meeting that I had never heard before on an issue I have been involved in for over 20 years. The proposal is Board of Fish #310 on page 291 of the Board proposal book which was brought to the committee last spring by John Murray, longtime Sitka Troller, and we sponsored it.
Full disclosure here that I have sponsored a similar proposal several times in the past but did not this year choosing to focus on chum troll business. During the discussion, longtime Sitka highline troller, Mo Johnson, brought up that the way he saw this proposal winter trollers were being penalized for catching hatchery kings because the hatchery kings counted against our winter guideline range of 43-47,000 meaning that we ended up with less days than if we were just catching treaty Chinook. I had never thought about that perspective. Mo went on to explain how they had a similar problem with hatchery sockeye in some seine area where they were limited on the number of sockeye they could catch to protect wild sockeye so they just do not count the hatchery sockeye toward the seine sockeye cap in that area. He also pointed out that the summer Chinook troll season is adjusted to "add on" the Alaska hatchery Chinook to the summer quota and in his opinion Alaska Hatchery Chinook caught in the winter ought to be added to the winter quota, as proposed by #310.
I made the motion at the ATA board meeting years ago to form the troll task force years ago to work internal troll allocation between the winter and summer and attended a task force meeting. I also read and talked to task force participants about the proceedings in detail. I do not remember Gary Slaven or any task force members discussing Alaska hatchery Chinook in regards to the 43-47,000 guideline harvest range for the winter. In any respect I have felt for a long time that the Alaska hatchery Chinook caught in the winter should be added on to the winter season guideline harvest range. Most years this is about 10% or around 4500 Chinook. At spring catch rates this amounts to about 4-5 days more fishing in April. At July catch rates this means about a half day less fishing in the summer.

[Carol W]

Mo is right, and unfortunately we are having to waste time and energy focusing on proposal 312 from our loving buddies at USAG, when in reality we should be discussing how to maximize the value of our harvest of Kings. There are several ways we could increase our boittom line by using the harvest of wild Kings to increase our harvest of hatchery Kings. If we were in the seine or gillnet fleets we would be discussing how shifts in harvest would put more kings in our holds and extend our fishing time on kings thus increasing the value of each king. As we all know there is a lot of money and energy used to produce hatchery kings and yet we harvest kings under a derby type atmosphere that is not the most economically effective manner to harvest a small number of kings. I beleave we should be using hatchery produced kings to maximize the value of each king we harvest, all one has to do is look at the size and value of a king harvested on July 1 compared to other times of the year, and let that guide our thinking of how and when to harvest Kings. In the last few years I have shook my head when I run out for the hot July 1 opener to find 11 pound kings that even though they are wild ocean fish are of less value per pound, and smaller then the kings I was catching a weeek earlier.
I know there are treaty ramifications and all that stuff but we really need to look at how we can maximize the price per pound we receave from the small pitence of Kings we are allowed to harvest.

Keep your hand on it
Tom

[Salty]

Amen, Tom.

[Abundance]

I have always felt that the king salmon troll fishery should focus on the winter/spring season. That really is one of our less exploited niches, that we can catch fish when no other salmon are being caught in the world. Start fishing in October, fish kings until the quota is caught, which would be probably mid-June, then fish cohos or dogs. Fish anywhere you like, ocean or hatcheries. No competing with net boats, no mad rush to catch all that you can in ten days in July, just a good mostly separate troll fishery. Kings honestly aren't a big part of my business anymore, since they are so chancy. One bad storm and you have lost your summer season, not to mention that we get paid less than half for a summer king than a winter/spring king. If that fish was worth twice as much a few weeks ago, why not let us catch it then? I suppose that the fishermen from down south would prefer to be able to come up in the summer and fish kings in a short and quick season, and then get back home as soon as possible. But most of the non-resident boats that I know come up in April/May, with plenty of time to get in on a early fishery. Freezer boats might not like a longer, more drawn out season with less fish on the boat for time spent fishing, and I suppose that there is no easy answer for that. I just might become one of them someday after all, if it seems to be the wisest course. I suppose that the price of their fish would go up a bit, but they would still be competing against stores of net caught fish in the markets. I have heard that most of the kings running through in late spring are Canadian fish. Maybe that would be an issue too. I thank those who are trying to keep our fishery competitive, and for keeping us informed. Most of us out here in the outskirts of civilization don't really know whats going on of there in the center, and watching those in the know discussing the details on here is really educational.

[Carol W]

My thoughts don't only apply to the late winter fishery but also the early winter fishery, at SSRAA we alwys see a significant number of tags from the Fredrick sound area in Oct one has to wonder if we started some inside areas earlier than the Oct 11 opening date would we not harvest more of our own hatchery Kings. If we took some of our wild fish quota and had select openings on the outside coast in May would we not see a higher number of our hatchery fish caught. There are definately ways to use some wild quota to catch more hatchery fish and at some point we need to explore some of these options, you look over your sholder to the longline fleet and the prices for halibut and blackcod, then think back to the derby years and the question begs to be asked are we using the harvest of our king quota to our best economic advantage?

Keep your hand on it

Tom

[Salty]

Here are a couple of things to think about.

1. The # 1 white table cloth dining out date in the US is Mother's Day in May. Why the heck aren't we targeting a coast wide troll opening for a couple of days, or even one day to put our product on those tables?

2. The #1 barbecue date in America is July 4th. Why don't we plan our troll opening so we can get more of our Chinook on those barbecues?