Strong escapement at one weir is driving long Alaska Peninsula openings

A single weir counts the salmon for the entire South Alaska Peninsula, and what it sees decides when the boats go out.

That weir, at Orzinski, has passed more than 10,600 sockeye so far this season, above average for the date. Managers have answered with some unusually long openings in the Northwest Stepovak Section of the Southeastern District: 96 hours for set gillnets starting at noon July 10, and 78 hours for purse seines beginning just after midnight on July 11. A shorter 48-hour opening followed from noon July 17 to noon July 19.

Those came on top of the regularly scheduled post-June periods, which have been running 36 hours apiece.

The openings are issued as emergency orders under the South Alaska Peninsula Post-June Salmon Management Plan, which lets the department add fishing time when local sockeye, coho, pink, and chum runs come in strong — and pull it back when they don't. With one weir covering the area, escapement counts there carry outsized weight in those calls.

Fish and Game broadcasts daily fishery updates on VHF channels 6 and 73.