01-28-2004, 11:33 PM
Alaska Statewide Salmon Forecast for 2004
The Alaska Department of Fish is announcing that the Alaska statewide commercial salmon harvest is projected to increase during the 2004 season compared to 2003. The pink salmon harvest is expected to be slightly lower than 2003 while sockeye and chum salmon (O. keta) harvests are expected to be higher. The 2004 commercial catch all-species projection of 196 million is distributed as 518 thousand chinook salmon, 50.2 million sockeye salmon, 5.1 million coho salmon, 119 million pink salmon, and 21 million chum salmon.
The department’s harvest projections generally reflect potential harvests for most of the major sockeye salmon fisheries as well as for large hatchery runs including pink, sockeye, and chum salmon hatchery runs to the Southeast Alaska, Kodiak, and Prince William Sound areas. These forecasts are based on quantitative projections of next year's salmon run using information on previous spawning levels, smolt outmigrations, returns of sibling age classes, and recent survival rates observed for hatchery releases. However, for some other fisheries, including the wild pink salmon fisheries in Southeast Alaska, Prince William Sound, Kodiak, and the South Alaska Peninsula areas, the catch projections are based on averages of recent catch levels that may be affected, to some extent, by recent decreased levels of fishing effort.
At this time last year, department biologists were expecting an all-species commercial harvest of 150.9 million for the 2003 season. As it turned out, the all-species catch reached 177 million. In 2003, the overall catch of pink salmon was 123.3 million compared to the preseason projection of 92 million and the overall chum salmon catch was 17.8 million compared to the preseason projection of 23 million.
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The Alaska Department of Fish is announcing that the Alaska statewide commercial salmon harvest is projected to increase during the 2004 season compared to 2003. The pink salmon harvest is expected to be slightly lower than 2003 while sockeye and chum salmon (O. keta) harvests are expected to be higher. The 2004 commercial catch all-species projection of 196 million is distributed as 518 thousand chinook salmon, 50.2 million sockeye salmon, 5.1 million coho salmon, 119 million pink salmon, and 21 million chum salmon.
The department’s harvest projections generally reflect potential harvests for most of the major sockeye salmon fisheries as well as for large hatchery runs including pink, sockeye, and chum salmon hatchery runs to the Southeast Alaska, Kodiak, and Prince William Sound areas. These forecasts are based on quantitative projections of next year's salmon run using information on previous spawning levels, smolt outmigrations, returns of sibling age classes, and recent survival rates observed for hatchery releases. However, for some other fisheries, including the wild pink salmon fisheries in Southeast Alaska, Prince William Sound, Kodiak, and the South Alaska Peninsula areas, the catch projections are based on averages of recent catch levels that may be affected, to some extent, by recent decreased levels of fishing effort.
At this time last year, department biologists were expecting an all-species commercial harvest of 150.9 million for the 2003 season. As it turned out, the all-species catch reached 177 million. In 2003, the overall catch of pink salmon was 123.3 million compared to the preseason projection of 92 million and the overall chum salmon catch was 17.8 million compared to the preseason projection of 23 million.
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