I want to right a factual error in a Feb. 13 opinion piece titled “Empty freezers on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.” Whereas the Yukon and Kuskokwim chum salmon are struggling very low productiveness, notably in 2021, Space M shouldn’t be blamed. Space M doesn’t harvest “tens of millions” of AYK chum. The precise variety of Coastal Western Alaska, or CWAK, chum harvested in Space M final June was 96,116 chum, 17.7% of June’s complete chum harvest. You will need to observe that many of those 96,116 CWAK chum harvested final 12 months have been additionally heading to Bristol Bay and Norton Sound. The Nushagak River by itself had a harvest of 301,800 chum and an escapement of 172,000 chum.
A a lot bigger proportion of the Space M harvest was sure for Asia, 58.0%, and east of Kodiak, 13.4%.That is public data revealed in January by the Alaska Division of Fish and Sport. The genetic inventory composition work in 2022 was borne of the 2007-2009 Western Alaska Salmon Inventory Identification Program (WASSIP) — which the Affiliation of Village Council Presidents signed.
The science of Yukon summer season chum mortality is essential right here, a lot of which is thought and reported by the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and in Worldwide 12 months of the Salmon publications.
— Kiley Thompson
President, Space M Seiners Affiliation
Sand Level
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