North Alaska Peninsula Commercial Salmon Annual Management Report 2022 PDF Download

This report is a summary of the 2017 season and historical data concerning management of the commercial salmon fisheries of the Northwestern and Northern districts of the North Alaska Peninsula in the Alaska Peninsula Management Area (Area M). Most commercial salmon fishing effort on the North Alaska Peninsula targeted sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka. The 2017 commercial salmon harvest on the North Alaska Peninsula was 2,858 Chinook O. tshawytscha, 3,861,515 sockeye, 6,655 coho O. kisutch, 11,341 pink O. gorbuscha, and 82,230 chum O. keta salmon. The North Peninsula Chinook Salmon harvest was comparable to the 10-year average of 2,500 fish. The sockeye salmon harvest in the Northern District of 3,772,502 fish was well above the 2007-2016 average harvest of 1,947,355 fish. Of the Northern District harvest, 90% (3,409,118 fish) were harvested in the sections between Port Moller and Outer Port Heiden. The North Alaska Peninsula chum salmon harvest of 82,230 fish was well below the 10-year average of 184,060 chum salmon, with about 70% (57,663 fish) of the harvest occurring in the Northwestern District, specifically in the Izembek-Moffet Bay Section. Nearly all Northern District chum salmon harvest was incidental to targeted sockeye salmon fisheries. The total exvessel value of all North Peninsula fisheries is estimated to be 22.9 million dollars. The majority of the value of the North Peninsula fisheries is made up of sockeye salmon harvested in the Northern District (22.2 million dollars). Total sockeye salmon escapement for North Alaska Peninsula streams was 2,365,317 fish, above the 2007-2016 average of 1,057,754 fish. Approximately 66% of the sockeye salmon escapement occurred in the Northern District's four systems in which sockeye salmon escapements are enumerated with weirs (Nelson, Bear, Sandy, and Ilnik rivers).