Another tough year is predicted for king salmon in Southeast and that has prompted the cancellation of the annual Haines King Salmon Derby.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Rich Chapell says according to the forecast, if normal fishing continued this season in the Haines area, the number of Chilkat kings that make it up the river to the spawning grounds would fall below the escapement goal. That poor forecast triggers the low abundance management plan that calls for closing the popular Chilkat Inlet to sport fishing through the end of June.
With that restriction in place, the Haines Sportsman’s Association voted recently to cancel the King Salmon Derby this year. Most of the fish landed in the derby are caught in the inlet, says organizer Toni DeWitt. While other areas will remain open, she says the association decided it would be difficult to make the derby worth the effort and cost this year.
“We don’t have a lot of confidence we can hold the derby on the town side because the majority of the fish, probably 90 percent, are caught on the cannery side,” DeWitt says.
The derby has been canceled before — once in 2008 to help conserve the king run, and for several years in the 1990s.
