Alaska winter Chinook changes

[Kelper]

I got into this industry knowing exactly how it worked and I hope things don't change away from the derby style openers we have. The only thing I'd like to see looked it is a mechanism to slow down the catch rate (not cut it off) to keep us fishing in March/April. Perhaps going to 3 or 4 days a week once we hit a certain number before a certain date? And that would be fleet wide. Yes, Sitka takes a lot of the winter quota, but there is also a lot a fisherman fishing there too. The hatchery openings are great, and hope to get a few more in the Craig area to help relieve congestion on the Tranquil drag and to keep us fishing longer if have some fish around. Hopefully our hatchery starts getting some good returns.

Joel
F/V Glory

[carojae]

Yak,
You're trying hard to make issues out of too many things outside the realm of your original topic of moving fish toward the winter fishery. I'm not interested in a pissing match but I stand by what I say.
Keep it simple.

Last, it is interesting to me that the last few comments on here including yours show a direct/indirect dissatisfaction with the treaty. You say nobody likes it - then why do we accept it as is?

Unity.

$0.02

Jim

[yak2you2]

Your right Carojae, this has wandered from moving fish to winter, but only because more or less all the issues are tied together. Can't move fish from summer, without talking about the dynamics there too.
Agree 100% on unity, we are nothing without it.
Lastly, a very good question about the treaty, and I agree. Let's not accept it.

[Drew]

I don't know if some trollers are real fishermen and some aren't, but if you divide up the 109k kings that were caught by 900 permits, that's 121 kings a boat. I'd consider that a bad opener myself.

[yak2you2]

The discussion wandered from moving fish to winter, into the most prevalent reason why we shouldn't, which is the perceived threat that won't be enough Chinook retention days, and we could loose coho days.
Where we've gone from there is,,,why don't we consider other options to lengthening out the summer season, rather than horde all the fish in a futile attempt to have the mythical 10-20 days described ( which we never hit anyway). No one has yet said that we should entertain an even split in the form of catch shares, or trip limits. If we closed down a few of the high catch outside areas, it would have the effect of lengthening the season. This, would likely spread the fish out more throughout the fleet, but there wouldn't be any preordained limits. To me, this seems like a good place to start. As a hand troller, I've been lucky enough to land on fish in a July opener before, had more than 200, but only once. That's all it was was luck. I know a lot of genuine highliners who went hungry this year. 5 days is simply to short to have any realistic chance of being on them consistently. At this rate, your turn to have a nothing season is coming.
Ultimately, whether we considered closing areas of high catch, going to equal shares or trip limits, or even doing nothing, it should be up to what the majority of the fleet feels, not just the guys who want the opportunity to be better than average. For far to long, we have been operating under rules set to allow a few to glimmer like rock stars, while the rest go hungry. The majority need to be considered.

[lone eagle]

I love the idea of a huge winter quota, a lot of value added, and opens up the possibilities of bailing on coho and running south for another long king season in the summer. Makes all the sense in the world. Of course southern boats might see opportunity up here and snap up those unused permits