Boot Vince Webster!

The Kenai River Sportfishing Association is going after Vince Webster, member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

As you'll recall, Gov. Sean Parnell recently reappointed Webster for another term, and he is now awaiting legislative confirmation.

KRSA has issued this call to action for people to contact legislators and urge a "no" vote on Webster.

The organization says Webster "directly participated in precariously and unnecessarily lowering the escapement goal of Kenai River king salmon during a time of record low abundance and uncertain future production."

Webster did this, KRSA says, to benefit commercial salmon setnetters.

Dismal news for Chinook trollers

Here's the announcement on this year's Southeast Alaska Chinook salmon quota.

"The commercial troll fishery preseason Chinook salmon harvest allocation for 2013 is 129,862 fish, a decrease of 67,410 Chinook when compared with last year's troll allocation of 197,272 fish," the announcement says.

It's over

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has closed the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery for the season.

The harvest tallied less than half the preseason quota of 11,549 tons.

More details in this announcement. Sounds like the fish just weren't cooperating.

So, can we officially call this fishery a bust? Deckboss isn't ready to say that until we know more about the price processors paid for the herring.

The latest on the Sitka herring fishery

Sitka herring seiners have taken less than half the 11,549-ton quota.

Now these normally fierce competitors are switching to a cooperative fishery in hopes of salvaging what Deckboss imagines has been a frustrating season.

Full details in this update from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

48 hours in Anchorage

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council convenes today for a meeting expected to last until Tuesday.

That's a long time to talk fish, but it's normal for the council, which holds about five lengthy meetings a year. Most are held in Alaska, but occasionally the council meets in Washington state or Oregon.

For this meeting, the council has allotted 48 hours to work through the agenda, which includes items on Steller sea lions, fishing cooperatives, the observer program and the scallop stock assessment.

Also of interest, the council will receive federal reports on genetic analysis of salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska.

We gave you a taste of one of these reports yesterday. Scientists are working to identify the stocks of origin for salmon taken incidentally in the pollock trawl fisheries.

Here are links to the reports:

Genetic Stock Composition Analysis of Chinook Salmon Bycatch Samples from the 2011 Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska Trawl Fisheries

Genetic Stock Composition Analysis of Chum Salmon Bycatch Samples from the 2011 Bering Sea Walleye Pollock Trawl Fishery

Where do those Chinook come from?

Here's a new technical memorandum on genetic analysis of Chinook salmon taken as bycatch during Alaska's pollock trawl fisheries in 2011.

The following, taken directly from the report abstract, is what federal scientists determined for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands fishery.

Based on the analysis of 2,473 Chinook salmon bycatch samples collected throughout the 2011 BSAI walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) trawl fishery, Coastal Western Alaska stocks dominated the sample set (68%) with smaller contributions from North Alaska Peninsula (9%), British Columbia (8%), and U.S. west coast (6%) stocks.

How much would you pay for pollock?

On a recent family visit in Tennessee, I took a minute to check out some prices in a newspaper circular from Food Lion, a supermarket chain.

Pork tenderloin, $3.99 a pound
Semi-boneless lamb leg, $5.99 a pound
Pollock fillet, $5.99 a pound
Porterhouse or T-bone steak, $7.99 a pound
Sockeye salmon, $8.99 a pound

The ad didn't say if the pollock was fresh or frozen.

Regardless, Deckboss was surprised to see pollock commanding such a hefty price!