15 Aug Common Property: Snow Pass Coho
Snow Pass “Summer” Coho Harvest 13 August 2016:
There were an estimated 2,500 coho harvested in District 106. At this point, very few of those are SSRAA summer coho. Participation in the D106 drift fishery also decreased this past week. While the fishery in D106 not only depends on these fish, there were better places to harvest last week. Survival of the summer coho from Neck Lake is at a historic low point, likely due to ocean conditions – “the Blob”. It is also possible a series of warmer-than-usual winters has made the freshwater environment of Neck Lake less desirable.
The attached graphics are related to the drift fishery in D106 where most of the summer coho are harvested. Fish are also caught in seine and troll fisheries elsewhere. The actual harvest of these fish was greater than the graphics show as the accounting for at least one week’s harvest was confused because of mixed tenders in D106/D108.
This will be the last update for Snow Pass Coho in 2016.
Snow Pass “Summer” Coho Harvest 8 August 2016:
There were an estimated 6,000 coho harvested in District 106, up from 4,000 harvested by the drift fleet the previous week. Participation in the D106 drift fishery increased again last week (stat 32) to the highest level in recent years. It is likely the participation increased because of chum salmon going to Anita Bay and Neets Bay as well as sockeye abundance in the District, while harvest in most other SE drift fisheries was decreasing. In some years the summer coho from the Neck Lake and Burnett Inlet releases has been the primary target at this date, this was not the case this year. Survival of these fish is at a historic low point, likely due to ocean conditions – “the Blob”. Chum and sockeye in this fishery are older fish and would not have experienced the same ocean conditions through their life spans.
The attached graphics are related to the drift fishery in D106 where most of the fish are harvested. Fish are also caught in seine and troll fisheries elsewhere. The actual harvest of these fish was greater than the graphics show as the accounting for one week’s harvest was confused because of mixed tenders in D106/D108.
We will continue to update this run through mid August.
Snow Pass “Summer” Coho Harvest 30 July 2016:
There were an estimated 4,000 cohos harvested by the drift fleet in D106 last week (stat 31), the same number as the previous week. Considering the participation was greater than usual with 58 boats in the fishery, this was not a very good result. In part this is because there are also sockeye and chum in the D106 fishery at this time and effort may be directed more at these other fish…but, primarily it is because of the size of the coho run; it is likely it will prove the smallest in the history of this project.
Since summer coho have no biological need to hurry back to their spawning grounds, there is a chance that more of the fish will be harvested well into August. But, at this point we don’t think that will be a big number.
We have done three cost recovery harvests from the raceway in Neck Creek; none of them was more than half a normal full harvest.
The attached graphics are related to the drift fishery in D106 where most of the fish are harvested. Fish are also caught in seine and troll fisheries elsewhere. The actual harvest was greater than the graphics show as the accounting for one week’s harvest confused because of mixed tenders in D106/D108.
We will continue to update this run through mid August.
Snow Pass “Summer” Coho Harvest 23 July 2016:
There were an estimated 4,000 cohos harvested by the drift fleet in D106 last week, stat week 30. Almost all the coho harvest in D106 through stat week 30 is from SSRAA releases at Burnett Inlet of Neck Lake. This may prove true the next several weeks. Generally most of the coho harvest in D106 at this time of the year is from SSRAA releases of summer coho at Neck Lake and Burnett Inlet.
Participation in the fishery was slightly less than usual for this period as was the coho harvest per boat (graphics). It’s not certain if this reflects the abundance of coho or if the drift fleet is more fishing for chum salmon, which would move them slightly with perhaps a different mesh size.
The movement of summer coho is weather dependent, and we are finally having some weather while I type this update. We will have a better idea of the return through the week 31 opening in D106. Whatever the case, at this point the run does not look very strong.
We have done two cost recovery harvests from the raceway in Neck Creek; neither of them was more than half a normal full harvest. The cost recovery harvest is the smallest we have ever experienced at this date.
The attached graphics are related to the drift fishery in D106 where most of the fish are harvested. Fish are also caught in seine and troll fisheries elsewhere. To date this year 636 of these fish were caught by seine and 1,871 by trollers…these numbers are not yet updated for stat week 30.
We will update this information weekly.
Snow Pass “Summer” Coho Harvest 18 July 2016:
There were an estimated 9,500 cohos harvested by the drift fleet in D106 last week, stat week 29. Almost all the coho harvest in D106 through stat week 28 came from SSRAA releases at Burnett Inlet of Neck Lake. This will probably prove true in week 29. Generally most of the coho harvest in D106 at this time of the year is from SSRAA releases of summer coho at Neck Lake and Burnett Inlet.
Participation in the fishery was usual for this period as was the coho harvest per boat (graphics).
We have done a single cost recovery from the raceway in Neck Creek. These fish are notorious about not coming home quickly without some weather. The fish have not built up in large numbers in Whale Pass as yet. At this point it still isn’t possible to determine whether the terminal run is simply waiting for weather, or weaker than usual. We will know in a few weeks.
We will update this information weekly.
Snow Pass “Summer” Coho Harvest 10 July 2016:
There were an estimated 7,000 cohos harvested by the drift fleet in D106 last week, stat week 28. Generally most of the coho harvest in D106 at this time of the year is SSRAA releases of summer coho at Neck Lake and Burnett Inlet. Because processing of tags can take several weeks, it takes some time to determine how many were harvested from each site, or if different stocks are involved in the harvest. Tag information through stat week 27 suggests almost all the coho currently being harvested in this fishery are SSRAA summer coho, Snow Pass Coho.
Participation in the fishery was greater than usual last week with 52 boats (graphics). Likewise the weekly harvest is lagging behind the past several years.
We did our first cost recovery from the raceway on Neck Creek last Thursday, and it was only half a normal harvest. The fish have not built up in large numbers in Whale Pass as yet. These fish are reluctant to move into freshwater in high pressure weather patterns – warmer weather without a SE storm. Following these unique fish since the first return in 1998, it is clear they don’t feel any need to move quickly homeward or into fresh water without experiencing a low pressure system. We haven’t had that experience yet this season. At this point it isn’t possible to determine whether the run is simply waiting for weather, or weaker than usual. We will know in a few weeks.
We will update this information weekly.