The recent boom and bust cycle for pink salmon in Southeast Alaska looks like it will continue into 2013. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is forecasting another strong return to the region.
Fish and Game is estimating a commercial catch of 54 million pinks next year, falling in the “excellent” category for fishery managers. Andy Piston is the department’s pink and chum salmon project leader for Southeast. “That would be above the recent 10 year average harvest but it’s pretty close to what we’ve seen in recent odd years,” Piston said. “Over the past five odd years we’ve been up around 50 million fish. So if our forecast holds true it should be a really good season for seine fishermen in particular next season.”
The high-volume and generally lower-price fish are caught primarily by Southeast’s purse seine fleet. However, recent strong prices have been an incentive for other gear groups occasionally to target pinks when other salmon species are scarce.
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