Southeast gillnetters get five days in Section 1-B as Section 6-D stays closed

Drift gillnetters working Section 1-B have five days on the water this week, from 12:01 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, through noon Friday, Aug. 21, while Section 6-D near Prince of Wales Island stays shut. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game set the schedule under Emergency Order 1S6126.

Districts 6 and 8, the Petersburg and Wrangell grounds, run through noon Thursday, Aug. 20. Section 11-B north of Circle Point and Sections 15-A and 15-C, the Haines and Lynn Canal waters, close at noon Wednesday, Aug. 19. Closed areas include the Pearse and Portland canals north of Akeku Point, Limestone Inlet, Port Snettisham, Chilkat Inlet and Lutak Inlet. The Boat Harbor Terminal Harvest Area, west of 135°09.57′ W longitude, remains open until further notice.

Section 1-B fishing time is set in relation to purse seine time under the District 1 Pink Salmon Management Plan. ADF&G cited "well above average pink salmon fishery performance" in its inseason summary and said emphasis will shift toward coho later in August or early September.

Section 6-D operates under a different rule: it opens to drift gillnetting only after a qualifying purse seine opening. "Section 6-D is closed after the first Saturday in August and before the first Sunday in September except as provided in the Section 6‑D Pink Salmon Management Plan (5 AAC 33.359)," the department said. Alaska News earlier covered one such window, roughly 40 hours in 6-D from Aug. 11 to 13, issued after the seine opening.

Those linked schedules help determine weekly earnings for gillnetters out of Petersburg, Wrangell and Haines. They are among a season's worth of inseason adjustments ADF&G makes as catches and run strength come in.

Preliminary week 33 harvest was 248,975 salmon across 179 boats. The next gillnet announcement is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 20.