Southeast Alaska king salmon head north in search of cooler waters

Some king salmon reared in Southeast Alaska are traveling farther north as ocean temperatures rise.

This news was delivered to the Alaska Board of Fisheries as their spring meeting opened in Sitka Monday afternoon.

The king salmon hatched in Southeast’s four top-producing river systems, the Alsek, Situk, Taku, and Stikine, are going very far afield.

“All four of these stocks are considered outside-rearing, or what we term the far-north migrators,” says Sportfish Coordinator Ed Jones. “This means that shortly after the juveniles enter the marine environment to rear, they essentially take a right and head out to the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.”

Although the Taku, Alsek, Situk, and Stikine produce most of Southeast’s king salmon, Jones said that there are seven smaller stocks that the department considers “inside rearing.” Once these fish enter the marine environment as juveniles, Jones said they remain in regional waters until maturity.

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