2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 26 July 2010
The total troll harvest is
now slightly more than 200,000 fish. There were
some Ketchikan dock deliveries the past 3 or 4
days as boats left the area that are not yet
included in the total. The last tender to
service this fleet left Neets Bay yesterday.
Our boat count yesterday was 3 and this
afternoon one troller fishing. Several people
will probably continue fishing the area off and
on for another week or so. Catching has slowed
a great deal from the peak, but there should be
some chum salmon entering Neets Bay for another
week or two…though they will be in small
separate schools. SSRAA will not reopen the THA
this summer.
Egg taking and cost
recovery are ongoing. The remaining fish are
congregated in the inner part of the bay.
At this point we will
discontinue tracking harvest and this will be
the last update on the 2010 Neets Bay chum troll
fishery.
|
2010 Trollers in Neets Bay |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
25-Jul |
|
|
|
26-Jul |
1 to 3 |
50 to 100 |
300 |
203,000
plus |
902 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 22 July 2010
Trollers probably passed
the 200,000 fish mark yesterday. SSRAA will not
reopen the THA this summer.
Some of the troll fleet has
left the area. The boat count yesterday
afternoon was down to 30 trollers from 56 the
day before. All three processors will continue
to tender the fishery until their deliveries
don’t warrant the presence of a tender. All
three are there today.
There has been some
misunderstanding among the fleet fishing the
Behm. The 200,000 fish target was related to
opening the THA. We were to use the THA to try
and help trollers reach a harvest of 200,000
chums in the area immediately adjacent to Neets
Bay. The 200,000 chum target was not intended
as a cap on the fishery – though our initial
forecast suggested there was a very small margin
for error. For literally the first time in the
past 10 years the return appears to have
exceeded the forecast. It is not “gangbusters”,
but we are meeting cost recovery and broodstock
goals easier than we anticipated.
Right now, noting the
information above, we are not concerned with
continued troller harvest of these fish in Behm
Canal.
We will continue tracking
the harvest and update this section every
several days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
20-Jul |
|
|
|
21-Jul |
30 |
130 to 150 |
10,252 |
194,788 |
852 |
2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 19 July 2010
There were 56 trollers
fishing in Behm Canal immediately outside Neets
Bay yesterday. The harvest was approximately
160 to 200 fish a boat. The fish are getting
smaller as is usual during the second half of
the run. The average weight yesterday from the
QC I saw was 8.5 pounds. Trollers are still
coming to town to regroup before continuing to
fish these chums…others may be leaving.
The harvest through
yesterday was 166,000 fish. The fleet is still
catching nearly 10,000 fish a day. We
anticipate this fishery will continue for a week
, or until abundance and harvest no longer
support the effort – or there is a sudden “hot
spot” elsewhere. Some trollers will remain
fishing in Behm Canal until early August as was
the case last year. At least one processor and
perhaps several will continue supporting the
fleet as long as the harvest warrants it.
Unfortunately there are fish from only a few
other sources available at the moment.
On Wednesday and Thursday
this week we will take a careful look at how
many trollers are still fishing, the total troll
harvest, where we are in the run, cost recovery,
and broodstock collection and let people know if
there will be another opening of the THA. At
this point it looks as if the continuing fishery
(now in the Behm) is going to exceed the 200,000
fish target…regardless, we will carefully go
through the exercise.
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18-Jul |
56 |
170 to 200 |
9,297 |
166,175 |
700 |
John Burke
2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 16 July 2010
The THA was closed to
trolling at 6 pm yesterday. Early this morning
there were 70 trollers working in Behm Canal
immediately adjacent to the THA. By about noon
there was a report that the number of trollers
was down to 50. Some of these boats are coming
to town to regroup before continuing to fish
these chums…others may be leaving.
The harvest through
yesterday was 130,000 fish. The fleet was
catching nearly 20,000 fish a day. Anecdotal
reports are that the fish are now a little
smaller and the female percentage is increasing;
that is what would be expected. We anticipate
this fishery will continue for a week to ten
days anyway – or until abundance and harvest no
longer support the effort – or there is a sudden
“hot spot” elsewhere.
The average size of a fish
was about 9.5 pounds yesterday.
We will take a 4 or 5 day
look at how many boats remain to fish in the
Behm outside the THA and how well they are
harvesting. Our goal in manipulating use of the
THA by troll is to help the fishery meet a
200,000 fish harvest target. There will have
been between 130,000 and 140,000 fish harvested
through today. Prior to our opening the THA,
the fleet of about 45 trollers was catching
10,000 summer chum a day in Behm Canal. We have
not made a decision about opening the THA again
and we will look at all these factors before
making any decision…probably at the earliest mid
week next week.
We will track harvest
through the weekend and update this page next
Monday 19 July.
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15-Jul |
70 |
240 |
17,123 |
128,199 |
536 |
2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 15 July 2010
There have been trollers
working the small area of Behm Canal directly in
front of the Neets Bay SHA since the last
several days in June. They have been catching
some chum salmon since that date, but initially
the daily harvest was not very large. The peak
troller count this morning, Thursday June 15,
was 84 boats. This is our highest count of the
fishery.
The outer portion of the
Neets Bay SHA (Chin Point to Bug Island) has
been open since Tuesday morning. This area will
close at 6 pm today. About half the trollers
are fishing in this area and about half are
fishing in the Behm immediately adjacent to the
SHA. The harvest per boat was approximately the
same just prior to opening this area – fish
caught only in Behm Canal – as it has been since
we opened the outer portion of the THA. Opening
the THA did seem to attract trollers and the
fleet approximately doubled once it was opened.
The average size of a fish
is still approximately 10 pounds, plus or
minus. The troll fishery is just moving to a
point where the females outnumber the males,
while cost recovery is still only about 45%
females. We feel the chums don’t become
available to our cost recovery seiners (schooled
on the surface) until a week or so after
trollers have been able to catch them in deeper
water. We have seen this each of the past two
seasons. This information, male/female ratio,
is reassuring as our cost recovery data matches
our long-term historic database. The fish seem
to be on normal timing.
In addition to cost
recovery we will start collecting fish for
broodstock next week. About 140,000 summer
chums are needed to provide the eggs to continue
the summer chum program (Nakat, Neets, Kendrick
and Anita Bay releases)…that is a large number.
We will also continue cost recovery. The peak
of the return in terms of cost recovery and
broodstock collection is usually on or about 25
July through 5 August. The run drops off
quickly after that. For the Behm troll fishery,
this would mean likely from this weekend through
next week…approximately.
Going forward we will take
a 4 or 5 day look at how many boats remain to
fish in the Behm outside the THA and how well
they are harvesting. There will have been
between 130,000 and 140,000 fish harvested
through today. Prior to our opening the THA,
the fleet of about 45 trollers was catching
10,000 summer chum a day in Behm Canal. We have
not made a decision about opening the THA again
and we will look at all these factors before
making any decision…probably at the earliest mid
week next week.
We will try to update this
page tomorrow.
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14-Jul |
80 |
250 |
18,730 |
111,076 |
458 |
2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 13 July 2010
There have been trollers
working the small area of Behm Canal directly in
front of the Neets Bay SHA since the last
several days in June. They have been catching
some chum salmon since that date, but initially
the daily harvest was not very large. Numbers
have increased through yesterday when we counted
73 trollers fishing in Behm Canal and the outer
portion of the Neets Bay SHA.
The outer portion of the
Neets Bay SHA (Chin Point to Bug Island) opened
to trolling yesterday. This area will remain
open until 6 pm Thursday. About half the
trollers are fishing in this area and about half
are still fishing in the Behm immediately
adjacent to the SHA. The entire Behm Canal
opened to troll today, the total area available
to troll increased a great deal, though the
chums coming back to Neets Bay are more likely
more concentrated near the THA.
The average size of a fish
has decreased to about 10 pounds, plus or
minus.
We are not seeing the
harvest rate that we saw last year despite the
fact this run looks stronger than the return in
2009. We are currently experiencing the year’s
largest tidal changes, and no doubt this has
some effect on harvest. We also sometimes
wonder if the extreme concentration of gear can
put some fish off the bite – we know it does
break up the schools. Regardless, the current
price per round pound compensates for the lower
catch rate. As we noted in the last update,
there is a wide variance in chum troll
experience in this fishery. There are some high
liners who are doing what they did last year
despite the fact the overall average is down.
Looking at troller numbers
and harvest from the previous day when there was
no access to the THA – we anticipated a larger
harvest than occurred…though what occurred was
significant.
We will try to update this
page every several days as we are able to
assemble new information.
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12-Jul |
73 |
250 to 300 |
18349 |
71591 |
307 |
2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 12 July 2010
The outer portion of the Neets Bay THA opened
this morning. Our count of trollers fishing
this area and in the Behm adjacent to the THA
this morning was 58 boats. From the calls I
have gotten and information from processors we
anticipate a few more will show up in the next
day or two. The outer THA will stay open
through 6pm on Thursday.
The fishery is being
tendered by three processors, though all tenders
were in transit early this morning returning to
the bay from a delivery yesterday/last night.
It is relatively easy to
estimate the total harvest to date, but still
very difficult to estimate the catch per troller
day as deliveries still have not corresponded to
a single fishing day. Our best guess from
talking to participants and looking at data is
that the average was about 330 fish per day on
the 10th and 11th. The
range of success is quite large between
individual boats. The average size of a chum in
our current cost recovery fishery is about 10
pounds while the latest troll tender QC
suggested slightly larger than 9. The run is
still predominantly male, our estimate yesterday
on the Lucky Buck was 42% female.
SHA Management: The SHA
will be opened from Chin Point to the line at
Bug Island at 6 am on Monday July 12. This
outer area of the SHA will remain open through 6
pm Thursday evening. At that point we will
scramble to put the harvest data
together…assessing run strength, cost recovery
harvest and troll harvest. We were mildly
surprised at how well some trollers did in the
Behm. We will assess harvest numbers, cost
recovery harvest, run strength and where we are
in the run as well as how well trollers have
done outside the THA in determining whether to
open the THA again.
It is our intent to manage
the SHA to assist trollers in reaching a 200,000
fish harvest of fish caught in the Behm Canal
immediately adjacent to the Neets Bay SHA and in
Neets Bay itself. The 200,000 chum target is
the sum of fish caught in both these areas.
We will update this page
every several days as we are able to assemble
new information.
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10-Jul |
40 |
about 300 |
12170 |
38750 |
194 |
2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 9 July 2010
Troller numbers now exceed
30 boats in Behm Canal adjacent to the Neets Bay
SHA. The number of boats increased steadily
over the past several days as trollers left the
Home Shore fishery and as others put away their
chinook gear. There were 31 trollers in Behm
Canal adjacent to Neets Bay at 4pm on 8 July.
The fishery is now being
tendered by three processors, Trident (American
Patriot and Western Spirit), EC Phillips
(Savage) and AGS (Haida Chief). The tenders are
familiar with Neets Bay as all of them tendered
this fishery last year. It is still very
difficult to estimate the catch per troller day
as deliveries have not corresponded to a single
fishing day. Our best guess from talking to
participants is that somewhere between 150 to
200 fish are being harvested per troller day.
We expect that number to increase quickly as the
apparent abundance of chum has recently
increased a great deal.
The average size of a chum
in our current cost recovery fishery is about 11
pounds. The run is still predominantly male,
between 55 and 60% male. The fish are still
bright by Neets Bay standards, though we never
see truly bright fish. Currently the terminal
return looks to be at least as strong as the
forecast, we are optimistic going forward with
current plans.
SHA Management: The SHA
will be opened from Chin Point to the line at
Bug Island at 6 am on Monday July 12. This
outer area of the SHA will remain open through 6
pm Thursday evening. At that point we will
scramble to put the harvest data
together…assessing run strength, cost recovery
harvest and troll harvest. We anticipate
opening some part of the SHA the following week.
It is our intent to manage
the SHA to assist trollers in reaching a 200,000
fish harvest of fish caught in the Behm Canal
immediately adjacent to the Neets Bay SHA and in
Neets Bay itself. The 200,000 chum target is
the sum of fish caught in both these areas.
We will update this page
every several days as we are able to assemble
new information.
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8-Jul |
31 |
about 200 |
3,500 |
15,633 |
127 |
2010 Neets Bay
Chum Troll: 6 July 2010
There have been trollers
working the small area of Behm Canal directly in
front of the Neets Bay SHA since the last
several days in June. They have been catching
some chum salmon since that date, but initially
the daily harvest was not very large.
The fishery has been
tendered since the first several days of July
and there are now two processors tendering this
fishery – a third processor should join within
the week. As of this morning there were 17
boats fishing and two tenders present. It is
very difficult, because deliveries don’t always
represent a single day’s fishing, to get a good
estimate of the daily catch per troller. As
best I can calculate from the available data is
that yesterday, the 5th of July,
trollers were catching about 180 to 200 fish per
boat. The fish are large with a 12 pound
average weight from our cost recovery QC report
from yesterday on the Lucky Buck. Harvest per
boat day will get easier to calculate when
participation and harvest increase to the point
most trollers deliver once a day.
A good part of the chum
troll fleet is still fishing “Home Shore” in the
Juneau area, and some are fishing what is
proving a difficult chinook opening. Related to
contact with trollers who have not yet come to
Neets, we anticipate they will leave for Neets
to arrive around the 10th of July,
plus or minus.
What is SSRAA’s management
plan? We are not going to change our long-term
plan. We will take a hard look at the abundance
of chum salmon on the 10th of July.
We will consider the participation of trollers,
catch per day, apparent run strength and where
we are in the run. If it looks like the fleet
will be easily able to harvest 200,000 fish
outside the SHA, we may not open the SHA.
Remember the area open to troll in the Behm is
significantly larger in about a week. If it
appears the fleet will not be able to get the
allocated fish without opening the SHA, we will
open it inward to Bug Island. If we don’t open
the SHA on or about the 11th, we will
assess the situation on a daily basis. Though
it is highly unlikely, since it has not happened
for a number of years…if the run exceeds
forecast to the extent we cannot keep up with
the run with processing capacity on the Lucky
Buck…we will utilize the troll fleet to siphon
off some of the excess abundance…but again, this
is not likely as it has not happened in some
time.
We will try to update this
page every several days as we are able to
assemble new information.
|
|
Trollers |
Days
catch |
Daily
|
Cumulative |
Total
troller |
|
Date |
Fishing |
Per
boat |
Harvest |
Harvest |
Days
fished |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5-Jul |
14 |
166 |
2324 |
7371 |
60 |
John Burke
