1999 



OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Landings 

 (X 1,000 t) 



Landings 

 (X 1,000,000 

 individuals) 



- 140 



Figure 13-2 



Alaska commercial landings 

 of pink salmon, 1970-97, by 

 metric tons (t) and indi- 

 vidual fish. 



Pink 56% 



Q 



Sockeye 30% 



Figure 13-3 



Alaska commercial salmon 

 landings by numbers of fish, 

 averaged over 1970-97. 



Pink Salmon 



Pink salmon are the most abundant species of 

 Pacific salmon in Alaska (Figure 13-2), account- 

 ing tor 50—60% of the total harvest each year. Dur- 

 ing the past 27-year period (1970-97), pink 

 salmon comprised 56% of the average annual com- 

 mercial salmon hai-vest (Figure 13-3). Pink salmon 

 are mostly harvested by purse seines in the south- 

 eastern, southcentral, and Kodiak Island regions 

 of the state. In Prince William Sound, hatcheries 

 produce a large portion of the pink salmon catch. 



Unique among the five species, pink salmon 

 have a fixed life-history cycle whereby the species 

 always matures and spawns at 2 years of age. This 

 cycle is genetically fixed so that spawners in even- 

 numbered years arc always separate and distinct 

 from spawners in odd-numbered years. Through- 

 out much of its range the species has viable popu- 

 lations in both odd- and even-numbered years; 

 however, in some areas pink salmon only occur in 

 one or the other cycle year. In Bristol Bay and west- 

 ern Alaska, lor example, pink salmon essentially 

 occur only in even-numbered years, whereas in the 

 Pacific Northwest they occur only in odd-num- 

 bered years. 



Sockeye Salmon 



Sockeye salmon (Figure 13-4), second in abun- 

 dance, generally accounted for 30% ol the har- 

 vest in recent years (Savikko, 1997). Sockeye 

 salmon, however, provide greater dollar value to 

 fishermen than all other commercially caught 

 salmon in Alaska combined, usually yielding horn 

 60-70% of the ex-vessel value of the annual har- 

 vest. The Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery in 

 southwestern Alaska is the most valuable capture 

 fishery for salmon in the world, often yielding 

 $300-400 niillioii (ex-vessel) per year. 



Sockeye salmon are harvested by purse seine 

 in the southeastern, Kodiak, and Chignik fisher- 

 ies and by drift gillnet or set gillnet throughout 

 the state. The largest fisheries for sockeye salmon 

 occur in the Bristol Bay, Cook Inlet, Alaska Pen- 

 insula-Aleutia[i Islands, and Kodiak regions, while 

 other significant fisheries lor this species also oc- 

 cur in the southeast, Prince William Sound, and 

 Chignik regions. 



The most common sockeve salmon lite his- 

 tory pattern dictates that juveniles rear in lakes 

 for 1—2 years before migrating seaward as smolts. 

 The large lake complexes on Bristol Bay rivers pro- 

 vide this necessary life history component and 

 form a critical part of the important fishery in this 

 region. The Bristol Bay fishery, based on drift and 

 set gillnet catches, is concentrated in a narrow win- 

 dow of time from late |une until mid |iiK when 

 millions of returning adult sockeye salmon pour 

 into Bristol Bay rivers from the ocean. 



The 1997 preseason forecast for sockeye 

 s.dnion returning to Bristol Bay was estimated to 

 be about 34,000,000 fish. Previous forecasts gen- 

 erally have been in reasonably close agreement with 

 actual runs. During the previous 5-year period 

 (1992-96), returns to Bristol Bay ranged from 

 29,600,000 to 44,400,000 fish and averaged 

 36,500,000 sockeye salmon per year (Savikko, 

 1997). The return to Bristol Bay in 1997, how- 

 ever, was only 18,900,000, with a fishery harvest 

 of 12,300,000. This unexpectedly low return of 

 sockeye salmon created a serious shortfall in the 

 catch and incomes of fishermen and communi- 

 ties throughout a large region of southwestern 

 Alaska dependent on this fishery. 



Several hypotheses have been suggested to ex- 



1 60 



