Tag Archives: Pink salmon

Low water levels in the Buskin could be giving salmon a tough time

Like many places in Alaska, Kodiak is experiencing drought symptoms this summer, and with it lower water levels in many of the island’s rivers and streams. Graham Briley cleans the Buskin weir every morning, including pushing dead and spawned out fish downstream. (Photo by Kavitha George/KMXT) It’s 7:30 a.m. on a Monday morning and Graham Briley is cranking open the …

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Alaska legislators pursue federal funds to mitigate fishery disasters

Pink salmon swimming. (Photo: Joe Serio/ USFS/ Flickr) Mitch Borden/KMXT None of the communities, including Kodiak, affected by the 2016 pink salmon fishery disaster have received federal funding for it. This event was officially declared a Federal Disaster in 2017. Kodiak’s state representative Louise Stutes says the status of the aid is still up in the air. The 2016 pink …

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Odd Year, Good Salmon Season

Pink salmon. (Video still by Chris Newly) Kayla Desroches/KMXT The salmon season is winding down, and numbers show it was a good year. James Jackson, the Kodiak Commercial Salmon Area Management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, says any year where fishermen harvest more than 30 million salmon is a good one, and the Kodiak area is …

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The Kitoi Bay Hatchery Wraps up its Cost Recovery Fishing for Pink Salmon

Pink salmon swimming. (Photo: Joe Serio/ USFS/ Flickr) Mitch Borden/KMXT The Kitoi Bay Hatchery thought 10 million pink salmon would return this summer, but only around 2 million showed up. Even though its estimates were off, the hatchery was able to meet 95 percent of its cost recovery fishing goal. Around 5.75 million pounds of pinks were collected. Tina Fairbanks …

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A Surprising Amount of Pink Salmon are Filling Kodiak’s Waters

K.Mueller/USFWS/Flickr Mitch Borden/KMXT Kodiak fishermen are having a great pink salmon season compared to last year’s run. There are not only plenty of fish, but the run’s lasting longer than expected. There are a lot of pink salmon surging into Kodiak’s rivers right now, which is weird. James Jackson, a biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, says …

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Preliminary Forecast Predicts Above Average Pink Season in 2017

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently released its preliminary 2017 salmon forecasts for the Kodiak Management Area, and it paints a much rosier picture for pink salmon in the new year. The humpy harvest in 2016 was an unmitigated disaster for Kodiak fishermen, with just 3.25-million fish delivered, on a forecast of 16.2-million. The wild pink salmon harvest, …

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Catch Numbers Reflect Disastrous Humpy Run

Pink salmon. Video still by Chris Newly. As KMXT reported this week, the 2016 Kodiak area pink salmon run has turned out to be among the worst in about 40 years. According to Fish and Game figures, the pink salmon catch through Monday was 3,237,640 – for the whole season. Just 32 humpies were delivered yesterday (Monday); 20 on Sunday, …

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Kodiak Pink Run is Poor, Late, or Both – Lowest Since 70s

Salmon fishermen in the Kodiak Management Area are harvesting about 200,000 pink salmon a day, which, according to Fish and Game Area Management Biologist James Jackson, is right up there among the slowest of pink salmon years. “We are having one of the poorest pinks runs we have seen in a very long time. Usually by the beginning of August …

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The Alaska Fisheries Report 19 May 2016

This week: Seattlites go crazy over Copper River salmon, we have the Yukon’s salmon outlook for this summer, and how will the humpies run in Southeast? All that, and AIFMA is no more, coming up on the Alaska Fisheries Report. We had help this week from Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Tony Schick in Eugene, KDLG’s Molly Dischner and Dave Bendinger in …

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