Southeast seiners get one 15-hour opening, in Sitka Sound

Purse seiners in Southeast Alaska have one opening this week: Section 13-B, in Sitka Sound and adjoining waters, from 6 am to 9 pm Thursday. Everything else stays shut, including Districts 1 through 4 and neighboring Section 13-A. The previous period, which ended Sunday, had opened parts of those districts for a day and a half.

Several areas inside the open section are closed anyway: parts of Olga Strait, Neva Strait, Nakwasina Sound and Katlian Bay, along with buffers around salmon streams in Katlian Bay and Mosquito Cove. West Crawfish Inlet, Shamrock Bay and Whale Bay are closed outright after being open last period.

The fleet is thinning as the season winds down. A preliminary midweek count put this week at 654,510 salmon caught by 75 boats, against 833,660 fish and 121 boats the week before, though this week's tally was still incomplete when the count was taken.

Chinook 28 inches or longer can be kept and sold. Smaller Chinook can be kept but not sold, and personal-use fish have to be recorded on fish tickets, the state's landing receipt, at delivery.

The next seine announcement comes Friday.