Commercial fishing for chum salmon has been called off this year
in the San Juan Islands, but that does not necessarily mean low
numbers of chum will be returning to Puget Sound, experts say.
It will be interesting this year to see how the southern
resident orcas respond to the movements of chum — the whales’
second choice after Chinook salmon. And, as always, chum salmon
provide Puget Sound residents the best chance of observing salmon
in the wild.
The San Juan closure is mandated under the Pacific Salmon Treaty
with Canada whenever the number of chum coming through Johnstone
Strait is estimated to be less than 1 million fish. This year marks
the first closure since this particular treaty provision was put in
place a decade ago.
The estimate of chum abundance, based on test fishing along
Vancouver Island’s inside passage, is not a direct indicator of how
many chum will make it back to streams in Puget Sound, said Aaron
Default, salmon policy analyst with the Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife. Many of the fish in the Johnstone Strait test
fishery are headed for Canada’s Fraser River, he noted.
Chum salmon are important to commercial fishers, and this year’s
closure in the San Juans could affect the bank accounts of those
who had planned to get an early start on the chum fishery, Aaron
told me.
“I would say this is a real concern,” Aaron said. “Reef net
fishermen, for example, actively fish for chum as well as sockeye
and pinks.”
Gillnet and purse seine boats that don’t make the trip to Alaska
often get in on the fishing in Areas 7 and 7A of the San Juans,
especially in years when the chum runs are strong.
To the south, in Puget Sound and Hood Canal, commercial fishing
is scheduled to begin next week — and it won’t be long before the
rest of us can visit our local streams to marvel at the annual
migration and maybe catch a glimpse of spawning activities.
The year’s first test fishery for chum runs to Central and South
Puget Sound was held this week near Kingston. The operation caught
169 chum, compared to a recent 10-year average of 760 chum for the
first week, Aaron reported. While that number is low, it won’t be
used as an indicator of abundance for at least a couple more weeks,
because it could just mean that the run is later than usual, he
said.
State and tribal salmon managers predicted a chum run of 444,000
fish this year in Central and South Puget Sound, compared to a
10-year average of about 527,000. Fishing schedules were based on
the forecast of 444,000, but fishing times could be adjusted if
chum numbers are lower or higher than that.
In Hood Canal, the run size of 518,000 chum is well below the
10-year average of about 750,000. But that 10-year average is a
little misleading, because it contains two extraordinary years:
2013 with a return of 1.4 million chum, and 2017 with just over 1
million, Aaron explained. If we exclude those two years, Hood
Canal’s fall return this year should be fairly typical.
Nest week’s opening of commercial fishing in Puget Sound and
Hood Canal allows nontribal purse seiners to fish on Wednesday and
gillnetters to follow on Thursday. Typically, we see a lot of purse
seiners lining up south of the Hood Canal bridge for the first day
of fishing, and this year should be no exception. For commercial
fishing openings, one can check the
WDFW Fishing Hotline online, or call (360) 902-2500.
The fishing closure in the San Juan Islands is likely to remain,
although salmon managers will reassess conditions on or before Oct.
22, using information from the Albion test fishery near the Fraser
River. By then, many of the chum will have already moved through
the San Juan Islands on their way to their home streams.
As the chum runs arrive in Central and South Puget Sound, our
southern resident orcas are likely to make more treks into these
regions, intercepting chum salmon returning to streams along the
east side of the Kitsap Peninsula and inside Sinclair and Dyes
inlets. The orcas spent about two weeks in Central and North Puget
Sound during September, but then headed back to sea. In good years,
the whales will venture past the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to hunt chum
that are headed to streams as far south as Olympia.
The endangered southern residents now number 73 and their population has
reached a critical stage. The
Southern Resident Orca Task Force has made recommendations for
restoring the orca population, with a primary goal of increasing
their food supply.
For humans, we are now approaching prime salmon-viewing season.
For years, I have encouraged people to visit our local streams to
observe the end of a journey that has taken these fish thousands of
miles as they prepare to produce a new generation of chum. Please
approach the stream slowly and avoid disturbing the water out of
respect for the salmon and to give yourself a chance to observe
spawning behavior.
The Kitsap Sun still maintains a
map with videos showing some of the best places on the Kitsap
Peninsula to view salmon. Some of the videos are out of date, and
this year Kitsap County’s Salmon Park near Chico is closed for
construction of a new bridge across Chico Creek. Still, the map
shows many places to view salmon — including places on this year’s
Kitsap Salmon Tours.
Eight places will be featured on this year’s
Kitsap Salmon Tours on Saturday, Nov. 9. This annual event,
sponsored by WSU Kitsap Extension, is fun and informative for the
entire family.
Erlands Point Preserve won’t have a salmon-viewing platform, as
I reported in
Water Ways Aug. 23, because beavers built a dam that flooded
the proposed viewing site. Nevertheless, the preserve will be the
place to visit informational booths, learn about salmon and enjoy
some refreshments.
Details on each of the sites on the tour can be found on the
Kitsap Salmon Tours website, including these additional outings
with knowledgeable guides:
- Nov. 13, 10 a.m. to noon, at Jarstad Park on Gorst Creek,
- Nov. 13, 11 a.m. to noon, at Poulsbo’s Fish Park on Dogfish
Creek,
- Nov. 14, noon to 1 p.m., at Poulsbo’s Fish Park on Dogfish
Creek and
- Nov. 17, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Salmon Haven on Dickerson
Creek.
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