Sand Point salmon fishery opens Wednesday for 109 hours, the longest window of the string

Purse seine and set gillnet boats around Sand Point get 109 hours of fishing from 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, until 9 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, in the Unimak, Southwestern and South Central districts and in the Shumagin Islands, Beaver Bay, Balboa Bay, Southwest Stepovak, Northwest Stepovak and East Stepovak sections of the Southeastern District.

Drift gillnet gear is limited to the Unimak District and the Ikatan Bay Section. All three gear types may fish the Bechevin Bay Section of the Northwestern District, which the two previous orders did not open.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released Sand Point Commercial Salmon Fishery Advisory Announcement #24 at 5 p.m. Monday, under Emergency Order #4-FS-M-SP-22-26. The previous authorized fishing ended at 9 p.m. Sunday.

This is the 24th advisory of the season. Advisory #22 allowed 61 hours of purse seine and set gillnet fishing from 8 a.m. Wednesday, August 19 until 9 p.m. Friday, August 21. Advisory #23 then extended it: "Commercial salmon fishing by purse seine and set gillnet gear will be extended for 48 hours from 9:00 p.m. Friday, August 21 until 9:00 p.m. Sunday August 23," the department said.

The short openings track a management strategy built around immature salmon. The department test-fishes the Shumagin Islands with a purse seine each July and closes the section to seine gear if 100 or more immature salmon per set turn up. On July 6 the test found 391 per set, almost four times that threshold. Gillnet gear may fish there even when seine gear cannot.

Openings are broadcast on VHF channels 6 and 73 daily at 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or from the Sand Point office at 907-383-2334. Matt Keyse and Annie Brewster are the listed contacts, reachable at 907-383-2066.