Commercial gillnetters fished in Lutak Inlet Tuesday (Abbey Collins/KHNS)
Haines’ Lutak Inlet was packed with gillnetters on Tuesday.
The shift in boats further up District 15 comes with a pulse of sockeye returning to the Chilkoot River.
On the weekend of July 21, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game counted around 22,000 fish coming through the Chilkoot weir. That brought the count over the lower bound of this year’s escapement goal of 38,000 fish.
Now that number has climbed to around 67,000 fish. The upper range of the escapement goal is 86,000 fish.
Haines area management biologist Wyatt Rhea-Fournier says he wants to avoid exceeding that goal. At this point, he says Fish and Game’s management plan calls for an increased harvest. By opening up the Lutak area, Rhea-Fournier says he’s making sure Chilkat fish aren’t harvested instead of Chilkoot fish.
On Monday, ADF&G issued an extension for the District 15 gillnet opening. Certain areas of 15-A and 15-C were extended for 48 hours. They close at noon on Thursday, August 2.
