A crew member aboard a Prince William Sound works with the operator vessel’s skiff, which is used to maneuver the net into position. (Photo courtesy of Megan Corazza)
Expectations were low this year for the pink salmon runs that power Prince William Sound’s commercial fishing industry.
But no one expected them to be as bad as they’ve been.
With just a few weeks left in the season, the sound’s seine fleet has harvested just one-fourth the number of pinks that it would have caught by now in a typical year.
The small runs have forced managers to close fishing for longer periods than usual. And even during openers, fishermen are reporting abysmal harvests.
Some have quit early. Others are thinking about new jobs.
“It is incredibly slow,” said Megan Corazza, a Homer-based seine fisherman who has fished in the sound for more than two decades. “It is the worst year I have ever seen with my own operation.”
Pink salmon spawn in two-year cycles, and even years see lower returns than odd ones. But this summer’s numbers are awful by even-year standards across the whole state, with the exception of Southeast Alaska.