Community discusses fishing future in Blind Slough and salt waters

 

March 28, 2024

OLIVIA ROSE / Petersburg Pilot

Susan Doherty, general manager for Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (SSRAA), speaks about the Crystal Lake hatchery broodstock concerns and the sport fishery management plan from the podium in the borough assembly chambers during the Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Committee discussion on March 20.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) preseason forecast estimates 1,400 adult Chinook returning to the terminal harvest area this summer. The low abundance triggered the department to close the freshwaters of Blind Slough for fishing king salmon this season. The last time freshwater was fully closed for a season was in 2013.

ADFG ordered the closure according to the management plan for the sport fishery. It is a conservation effort to protect the broodstock for the Crystal Lake hatchery.

In reaction to the freshwater area closure, members of the community criticized the management pla...



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