We've seen three 12-hour openers so far at the Copper River, and gillnetters sure have made the most of their time.
The sockeye catch has been killer, totaling an estimated 627,000 fish.
In fact, we're off to an even hotter start than last year, when the first three openers produced a combined 451,937 sockeye. The 2011 season went on to an excellent finish of more than 2 million fish.
The situation with Chinook salmon isn't so exciting. The tally thus far is an estimated 3,300 fish, compared to 5,528 taken during the first three openers last season.
The Copper River District will open at 7 a.m. Monday for a 36-hour period.
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21 comments:
627,000 reds is roughly 4 million pounds, which at an average price of at least 5/lb will bring in roughly 21 million dollars. Now that's a real fishery!
The price is currently 1.50. First opener was above 4 then dropped fast.
Go UFA!
On 5/24/12 airborne Alaska Wildlife Troopers, Cordova Post, observed a vessel operating a drift gillnet during a closed period. Investigation revealed that the vessel was the F/V Inspiration, operated by Gerald J. McCune, 36, of Cordova. McCune was summoned to appear for arraignment on 6/27/12 in Cordova District Court.
Alaskans cannot continue to allow the buyers all that control, $1.50 a pound is highway robbery!
Is anyone concerned about the low Chinook harvest? Does anyone care? It is now officially SE, Yukon, Upper cook inlet and PWS that are showing signs of a disaster for Chinooks. You could probably add Kodiak eventually. I sat in a fish Board meeting this year and heard member John Jensen state that he heard that the Chinook stocks were coming back and that things "were looking good" Right. But who cares, huh?
was wondering what copper river price was last year at this time?
Those Cordova sockeye need to go into vac-pac bags, flash frozen, and sold at auction. Dumping them for $1.50 is pathetic. The year round previously frozen wild sockeye market value is $15 lb. The consumer is now aware of the top quality of a fresh frozen fish being as good, if not better than a "fresh" fish. Time to take advantage of the expanded salmon markets.
Co-op and cold storage.
TO GO UFA
IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT UFA YOU WOULD KNOW THAT GERALD J MCCUNE IS NOT GERALD G MCUNE. MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU GO TALKING ABOUT THINGS YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT
Doesnt jerry have the killer frog?
A case of 2 mccunes.
anonymous at 8:01
it could be that the trollers in southeast(thats right i said trollers,not trawlers, althought i have problems with them to)are not doing there part to help perserve the resource.that fleet is the ONLY salmon harvester who is admittedly an intercept fishery that calls them selfs commercial fishermen,so there the only ones who are out there harvesting salmon that could be headded to systems that are in trouble (in large numbers anyway). all other commercial salmon fishermen are not allowed to harvest fish headed for streams that fish and game feels there is not going to be a sustainable number of fish to run that system.the trollers get away with this cuz they are out on the ocean harvesting fish that we have no clue of were there going and everyone just says its the way its always been done.on top of that the trollers have done a real good job of creating an image of "the poor little fishermen that cant compete with the seiners and gilneters" even though that fleet is harvesting 65-75% of coho caught in southeast and 80% of the kings caught in southeast(the next biggest group harvesting kings is the sporties)
to me its frustrating that while all the other commercial fishermen that harvest these fish have faced cutbacks in terms of lost fishing time or areas to fish or in many cases both,the troll fleet hasnt seen any cutbacks at all,in fact when they dont harvest there winter king quota the balence gets carried over to the next season,does that really make sense,the fish werent there this season so just roll them over to the next season,to me that is a disaster in the making, and keep in mind all the areas you mentioned as low chinook abundance are areas that those fish go to the fairweather ground to grow in the ocean(ironically a favorite spot of the troll fleet)not trying to bash the trollers here, we all have somne cleaning up to do but i feel the trollers need to start sharing some of the accountability the rest of us share.
To 7:46 AM
....... and even it was Jerry McCune that got the ticket, you must be a pitiful idiot totally lacking in self esteem to be posting a copy of a violation for some poor fisherman that couldn't get his net back because it was plugged. Poor planning yes, fodder for gossip, only for losers like you.
Wow, panties in a bunch. Must've gotten a ticket recently. Chill dude.
According to the SE Trollers its everyone else problem for King salmon mortality. Look at the Icy Straits chum fishery where the Chum trollers association can go before the BOF and tell them that they the Chum trollers are the cleanest fishery around. The more conservative fishermen involved will not fish the fishery do to high King mortality.. Yes we need to take care of our own fisheries before we expect someone else to clean up theirs.. Soon ATA will have to let the baby go so ATA can continue to support their tradition King and Coho fleet..
Alaskas fisheries has too many fractions messing up the product.
Pointing the finger at one or the other isn't the path to sustainability.
at 8:56
everyone hase work to do but as i pointed out the trollers are the onlyones that dont face any kind of cutbacks while other groups make sacrifices to preserve the resource
just wish they would share the pain with the rest of us so we can all share the good times sooner
Killa Fwog
$1.50 for sockeye? If I remember correctly, it was about $2.00 last year about this time. I don't fish there, so I could be off, but it has definitely dropped from last year.
Can't let the little man get too much money in his pocket. He might start another co-op and initiate more competition.
Private processing, cold storage, auction house, FOB Cordova.
to mister post at 8o one your full of bull.trollers yes trollers have been restricted over the years we use to fish the ocean all summer for the ever elusive king and coho salmon which use to amount to 300000 kings in some years,we're down to a 10 day fishery in july and 180000 fish cap if we're lucky!thanks to the us and canada salmon treaty we lie about the interception of kings in our net fisheries here in amerika and also in the trawler catch!!!so as far as you calling us winers you can go f#*% yourself.
trollers seem to be a angry bunch. they'll ram their little wooden boats right up your a$$ if you keep talking that way.
Copper sockeye, $5.99 at Costco. Too cheap, someone is dumping at price points lower than necessary. Stupid.
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