Annual summary of the commercial and subsistence salmon fisheries and salmon escapements in the Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, and Atka-Amlia Islands Management Areas, 2011

Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Management Report No. 12-26, Anchorage.

This report is a summary of the 2011 commercial salmon and subsistence fisheries of the Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, and Atka-Amlia Islands Management Areas. The commercial salmon harvest in the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands areas consisted of 9,577 Chinook Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, 2,841,896 sockeye O. nerka, 172,875 coho O. kisutch, 5,733,947 pink O. gorbuscha, and 1,271,772 chum salmon O. keta. The total exvessel value in the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands areas was approximately $26,745,071.

In 2011, 163 Alaska Peninsula Area subsistence salmon permits were issued and an estimated 333 Chinook salmon, 9,873 sockeye salmon, 2,331 coho salmon, 1,058 pink salmon, and 822 chum salmon were harvested. In the Unalaska District, 230 subsistence salmon permits were issued and 10 Chinook salmon, 5,359 sockeye salmon, 275 coho salmon, 382 pink salmon, and 73 chum salmon were harvested. There were no subsistence salmon permits issued in the Adak District in 2011.

The 2011 North Alaska Peninsula Chinook salmon escapement of 15,254 fish was below the 2001-2010 average of 21,595 fish, and the sockeye salmon escapement of 795,105 fish was below the 2001–2010 average of 1,104,114 fish. Even so, the North Peninsula sockeye salmon escapement met or surpassed most escapement goals. The South Alaska Peninsula sockeye salmon escapement of 59,794 fish was well below the most recent 10-year average of 131,624 fish. Limited aerial surveys were flown for coho salmon on the Alaska Peninsula, therefore total estimated escapements were not calculated. The South Alaska Peninsula pink salmon estimated escapement of 2,494,950 fish was below the 2001–2010 average of 3,964,714 fish. The entire Alaska Peninsula chum salmon escapement of 746,077 fish was below the most recent 10-year average of 1,121,625 fish. All Alaska Peninsula chum salmon escapement goals were met except the Northern District aggregate goal.