Alaska Peninsula salmon fishery opens for 61 hours Wednesday morning

Sand Point-area fishermen get 61 hours on the water this week. Commercial salmon fishing opens at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, and closes at 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14, under Emergency Order No. 4-FS-M-SP-19-26 from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Purse seine and set gillnet gear may fish the Unimak, Southwestern and South Central districts, plus the Shumagin Islands, Beaver Bay, Balboa Bay and all three Stepovak sections of the Southeastern District. Drift gillnet gear is confined to the Unimak District and the Ikatan Bay Section of the Southwestern District.

The order is the 21st Sand Point advisory of the season. It follows a run of short, gear-specific openings, including an earlier 61-hour period under Emergency Order No. 4-FS-M-SP-18-26 and a July closure of the Shumagin Islands to seine gear after test fisheries counted immature salmon above the threshold. New Board of Fisheries regulations for Area M took effect July 18. The Area M Seiners Association has told the board that restrictive or uncertain management decisions like these can threaten Sand Point's fishing economy and the local businesses that depend on Area M salmon fishing.

Closed waters stay as written in the regulation book unless an emergency order adjusts them. "Salmon fishery announcements will be broadcast on VHF channels 6 and 73 daily at 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.," the department said. Statistical charts are available at the Sand Point, Cold Bay and Port Moller offices.