August 29th, 2024 – The chum return is over, and we will be updating the harvest graph information as more updated numbers come in from ADF&G. With preliminary numbers reported, this chum return will be in the top 5 largest chum returns in DIPAC history. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. Gastineau Channel cost recovery began on the 6th of July. Cost Recovery Fishing is complete in both areas & the total harvest for the 2024 season is 9.8 million pounds. This was just under our goal of 10 million lbs for the season.
Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/17. The Macaulay Salmon Hatchery completed its eggtake on 8/5 meeting the goal of 135 million eggs.
The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 11 and we have passed 5,675 sockeye to date. This is well within the escapement goal for the lake. This DIPAC crew will continue to operate the weir through mid-September.
Cost recovery at Snettisham started on the 7th of August. To date, we have harvested 112,000 pounds. The hatchery staff have collected all the fish needed for this year’s broodstock and eggtake will begin in late September or early October.
Macaulay Salmon Hatchery completed Chinook eggtake on 8/23. Only 390,000 eggs were collected. This is enough to support a release for future broodstock needs, but below the goal of 1.25 million eggs.
Based on coded tag recoveries, DIPAC produced coho are showing up in larger numbers in the D111 and D115 fisheries through SW35, and sport fishermen are having success landing coho in Gastineau channel. Broodstock collection will occur over the next few weeks and eggtake occurs in mid to late October.
This is the last update of the season.
August 22, 2024 – The chum return is over, and we will be updating the harvest graph information as more updated numbers come in from ADF&G. With preliminary numbers reported, this chum return will be in the top 5 largest chum returns in DIPAC history. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. Gastineau Channel cost recovery began on the 6th of July. Cost Recovery Fishing is complete in both areas & the total harvest for the 2024 season is 9.8 million pounds. This was just under our goal of 10 million lbs for the season.
Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/17. The Macaulay Salmon Hatchery completed its eggtake on 8/5 meeting the goal of 135 million eggs.
The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 11 and we have passed 3,393 sockeye to date. There were ~800 sockeye staging in the creek below the weir on the August 22nd creek survey.
Cost recovery at Snettisham started on the 7th of August. To date, we have only harvested 82,000 pounds. We are past the historic peak of the run and nearing a 50-50 male, female percentage at the hatchery. The hatchery will have the final fish they need for broodstock collected in the next few days time.
Macaulay Salmon Hatchery will be completing its Chinook eggtake in the next few days. We only have 2 female Chinook left in the hatchery system, and will come up short of our eggtake goal of 1.25 million eggs. This year we have collected ~400,000 eggs between two remote eggtakes at Fish Creek on North Douglas and fish returning to the hatchery.
Coho are showing up in Gastineau channel, we have had ~20 coho come up the ladder and are waiting on CWT results from the gillnet catch in D111 to see how the run is shaping up. Sport fishermen in Gastineau Channel are beginning to land DIPAC produced coho at the Sheep Creek delta and in the Wayside Park area next to the hatchery.
The next update will be Thursday the 29th of August.
August 15, 2024 – The chum return is over, and we will be updating the harvest graph information as more updated numbers come in from ADF&G. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. Gastineau Channel cost recovery began on the 6th of July. Cost Recovery Fishing is complete in both areas & the total harvest for the 2024 season is 9.8 million pounds.
Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/17. The Macaulay Salmon Hatchery completed its eggtake on 8/5 meeting the goal of 135 million eggs.
The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 11 and we have passed 2,625 sockeye to date. There were ~500 sockeye staging in the creek below the weir on the August 15th creek walk.
Cost recovery at Snettisham started on the 7th of August. To date, there has only been two days of harvest amounting to just under 15,000 lbs. This is well behind our projection to date, and we are past the historic peak of the run entry to the SHA.
DIPAC produced coho should be showing up in the Juneau area. Only two coded wire tags have been recorded in the CWT database to date, and we have seen no coho off the hatchery dock or through the fish ladder system at the hatchery.
The next update will be Thursday the 22nd of August.
August 8, 2024 – Gillnet catch numbers were low as we near the end of the run. Sample information from the 8/4 gillnet opener is as follows: Lynn Canal – average weight of 5.6lbs and sex ratio of 38% male and 62% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 6% - 5's, 90% - 4's and 4% - 3's. Taku – we were unable to obtain a sample this week from D111. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. Gastineau Channel cost recovery began on the 6th of July. Total harvest to date is 9.8 million pounds. Today is the last day of chum Cost Recovery via seine vessel for the 2024 season.
Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/17. The Macaulay Salmon Hatchery completed its eggtake on 8/5 meeting the goal of 135 million eggs.
The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 11 and we have passed 1,764 sockeye to date.
Cost recovery at Snettisham started on the 7th of August. To date, there has only been one day of harvest amounting to just over 6,000 lbs.
DIPAC coho should be showing up in the sport and gillnet catches this week through September around the Juneau area. We are expecting a return to average coho return after two poor years of coho returns; see the 2024 coho forecast.
The next update will be Thursday the 15th of August.
August 1, 2024 – Gillnet chum catch numbers were lower than last week as we are nearing the end of the run. The overall run will end up being well above the 2024 forecast of 3.6 million fish, but we will wait for updated numbers from ADF&G before we can fully analyze the return. Sample information from the 7/28 gillnet opener is as follows: Lynn Canal – average weight of 5.8lbs and sex ratio of 33% male and 67% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 5% - 5's, 80% - 4's and 15% - 3's. Taku – average weight of 6.1 lbs, and sex ratio of 36% male and 64% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 1% - 5's, 88% - 4's and 11% - 3's. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. Gastineau Channel cost recovery began on the 6th of July. Total harvest to date is 9.7 million pounds, and we plan to fish two more days at Amalga (Saturday & Tuesday) to finish up the season.
Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/17. We have collected 103 million eggs to date. We hope to meet our 135 million egg take goal by early next week.
The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 11 and we have passed 464 sockeye to date.
Snettisham cost recovery will begin as soon as there’s enough fish at the hatchery to warrant a harvest. The Sockeye Cost Recovery graph will be updated after we begin Cost Recovery.
The next update will be Thursday the 8th of August.
July 25, 2024 – Gillnet chum catch numbers showed a slight decline over last weeks’ catch as we have passed the peak of the run. Sample information from the 7/21 gillnet opener is as follows: Lynn Canal - average weight of 6.1 pounds. The sex ratio data does not match up well with the roe recoveries at the plants. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 6% - 5's, 81% - 4's and 13% - 3's. Taku Inlet – average weight of 6.3 pounds with a 50-50 sex ratio. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 9% - 5's, 81% - 4's and 10% - 3's. Cost recovery samples at Amalga showed a 55% female and 45% male sex ratio. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. Gastineau Channel cost recovery began on the 6th of July. Total harvest to date is 8.2 million pounds.
Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started on 7/17. We have collected 46 million eggs to date.
The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of July 11 and we have passed 177 sockeye to date.
Only a few adult sockeye have been seen at Snettisham salmon hatchery. Cost Recovery at Snettisham will start once more fish arrive.
The next update will be Thursday the 1st of August.
July 18, 2024 – Gillnet chum catch numbers remained high in Lynn Canal and in Taku Inlet through the fifth opener of the season. Sample information for the 7/14 opener is as follows: Lynn Canal - average weight of 6.2 pounds. Our sex ratio data for the week was not tracking with roe recoveries at the plants. Based on roe recoveries, we assume close to a 50-50 sex ratio. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 7% - 5's, 88% - 4's and 5% - 3's. Taku Inlet – average weight of 6.4 and sex ratio of 54% male and 46% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 14% - 5's, 83% - 4's and 3% - 3's. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. Gastineau Channel cost recovery began on the 6th of July. Total harvest to date is 6,960,000 million pounds. DIPAC needs approximately 10 million pounds to meet the cost recovery goal this year.
Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery started yesterday 7/17. We have collected 15 million eggs to date.
The Speel Lake weir was installed July 11th, and we have passed 0 sockeye to date. The Speel Lake Escapement graph will be updated once we begin to pass fish. Cost recovery at Snettisham will start in the next few weeks’ dependent on fish presence.
The next update will be Thursday the 25th of July.
July 11, 2024 – Gillnet chum catch numbers continue to track above forecast in Taku Inlet and remained on track with forecast in Lynn Canal through the fourth opener of the season. Sample information for the 7/7 opener is as follows: Lynn Canal – average weight of 6.4 pounds and sex ratio of 60% male and 40% female. The age comp was 1% - 6's, 14% - 5's, 82% - 4's and 3% - 3's. Taku Inlet - average weight of 6.4 pounds and sex ratio of 60% male and 40% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 14% - 5's, 83% - 4's and 3% - 3's. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. Gastineau Channel cost recovery began on the 6th of July. Total harvest to date is 4.5 million pounds.
Chum egg take at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery will start mid next week.
The Speel Lake weir has been installed as of today, and we have passed 0 sockeye to date. The Speel Lake Escapement graph will be updated once we begin to pass fish. We have seen 2 adult sockeye to date at Snettisham Hatchery. Checkout the 2024 sockeye forecast for more info on what we expect from this return.
The next update will be Thursday the 18th of July.
July 4, 2024 – Gillnet chum catch numbers picked up in both Lynn Canal and Taku Inlet in the third opener of the season, with Taku inlet well above forecast. Sample information for the 6/30 opener is as follows: Lynn Canal - average weight of 6.3 pounds and sex ratio of 64% male and 36% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 17% - 5's, 81% - 4's and 2% - 3's. Taku Inlet – average weight of 6.6 pounds and sex ratio of 67% male and 33% female. The age comp was 1% - 6's, 29% - 5's, 69% - 4's and 1% - 3's. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. We plan to begin Cost Recovery in Gastineau Channel on Saturday July 6th. Total harvest to date is 2 million pounds.
The next update will be Thursday the 11th of July.
June 27, 2024 – Gillnet chum catch numbers remained above forecast in Taku Inlet, but were under forecast for this stat week in Lynn Canal through the second opener of the season. Sample information from the 6/23 gillnet opener is as follows: Lynn Canal - average weight of 6.8 pounds and a sex ratio of 71% males and 29% females. The age comp was 1% - 6's, 24% - 5's, 66% - 4's and 9% - 3's. Taku Inlet – average weight of 6.9 pounds and a sex ratio of 70% males and 30% females. The age comp was 1% - 6's, 17% - 5's, 76% - 4's and 6% - 3's. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor started on the 22nd of June. We are keeping a close eye on Gastineau Channel with a goal to start cost recovery harvest late next week. Total harvest to date is 660,000 pounds. Due to poor market conditions and increasing costs of business operations, DIPAC intends to harvest all fish returning to Amalga Harbor for Cost Recovery this year.
The next update will be Thursday the 4th of July.
June 20, 2024 – Chum catch numbers are nearly double the forecast (and the 15-year average) for Lynn Canal and over double the forecast for Taku Inlet after the first opener of the season. Sample information from the 6/16 gillnet opener is as follows: Lynn Canal – Average weight of 6.8 pounds and a sex ratio of 72% male and 28% female. The age comp was 1% - 6's, 14% - 5's, 81% - 4's and 4% - 3's. Taku Inlet – Average weight of 7.4 pounds and a sex ratio of 82% male and 18% female. The age comp was 0% - 6's, 32% - 5's, 65% - 4's and 3% - 3's. Checkout the 2024 harvest season graphs for more detail on the returns.
Cost recovery at Amalga Harbor will be starting Saturday, the 22nd of June. We are keeping a close eye on Gastineau Channel with a tentative plan to start cost recovery the week of the 4th of July dependent on fish presence.
The next update will be Thursday the 27th of June.