Gillnetters near Ketchikan and Haines get an extra day on the water

Drift gillnetters in two Southeast Alaska areas, near Ketchikan and near Haines, got an extra 24 hours of fishing time this week under emergency orders from Fish and Game. The extensions came with some waters closed off in each area.

Near Ketchikan, the extra day wasn't a judgment call. Under the district's pink salmon management plan, gillnet time is tied to how long the purse seine fleet fishes, and because the seine fleet was set to fish at least three days this week, the gillnetters automatically got an additional day. Around Haines, in District 15, the extension came with closures in parts of Chilkat and Lutak inlets and a stretch of Lynn Canal.

The runs behind the openings are holding up. The Hugh Smith Lake sockeye projection eased over the week but stayed within its target range, and gillnetters across the region took a preliminary 157,000 pinks, about 60,000 of them near Ketchikan.

All three areas reopen at noon Sunday.