Fish plan includes Auke Bay change
Chinook smolt won't be released from Statter Harbor next year
The state's fish stocking plan, which calls for releasing 7.2 million fish into Alaska waters next year, includes a change for Auke Bay in Juneau.
The 2003 draft sport fish stocking plan, recently released by the state Department of Fish and Game, makes few changes over the 2002 plan. It covers the release of king salmon, silver salmon, Arctic char, grayling and rainbow trout.
In Juneau, the plan would stock 240,000 chinook smolt at Fish Creek and Douglas Island Pink and Chum's Macaulay Salmon Hatchery on Gastineau Channel in 2003. In one change, chinook smolt won't be released from Statter Harbor in Auke Bay next spring, said Rocky Holmes, Southeast supervisor for sport fish at Fish and Game.
The change is tied to crowding at Statter Harbor and issues at Auke Creek, he said.
"At Auke Creek, the problem is twofold," he said. "We run a weir, and fish coming up to Auke Creek are killed and donated to charity. It's extra work and we'd rather have them caught (by sport fishermen)."
Fish and Game also is concerned about incidental catches of sockeye salmon that return to the creek at the same time as the kings, Holmes said. Even though releases will stop at Auke Bay next year, kings will continue to return to the area for the next five years, he added.
Snagging at the harbor in Auke Bay also has been an issue, DIPAC Operations Manager Eric Prestegard said.
"People were concerned about snagging hooks being used on floats and people getting hit," he said. "It was a success in the sense that fish were being caught, but an oddity in the way the fishing worked."
DIPAC will increase releases at Fish Creek and the Macaulay Hatchery to make up the gap in 2003, and look for a new release site for spring 2004, Prestegard said. DIPAC is now in discussions with Fish and Game about a new location and is looking at Tee Harbor or the lower part of Gastineau Channel, he said.
"We do want to continue to have fish in the Auke Bay area. It's been successful for sport and charter," he said.
Members of the city's Docks and Harbors board heard about the snagging issue from Statter Harbor users this summer, but the issue appeared to be resolving itself with a change in release sites, harbor board member Romer Derr said. The city posted signs to restrict fishing on the Statter Harbor floats to reduce problems over the summer, he said.
"We're not opposed to people catching fish, but we don't want to see people get hurt or boats damaged," he said.
Last year, the state and DIPAC released about a half-million chinook smolt in Juneau, Holmes said. The numbers are down for 2003 because of an egg shortage and DIPAC's brood stock development plan, he said. Chinook releases at Fish Creek and the Macaulay hatchery will more than double to 570,000 smolt in 2004. The state plan also calls for chinook or coho releases at Twin Lakes in Juneau, Holmes said.
Statewide, the plan recommends releasing the same number of fish in 2003 as in 2002. Under the plan, 4.3 million king salmon will released, 1.4 million silver salmon, 89,850 Arctic char, 43,900 grayling and 1.4 million rainbow trout. The numbers are down from 7.6 million fish in 2001 and up slightly from 7.1 million in 2000.
The plan will be revised and completed in late January or early February after receiving comments from the public, said fisheries biologist Diane Loopstra, who compiled the plan. The deadline for comment is Jan. 20.