Trollers likely to lose second chinook opening due to heavy sportfish harvest

Heavy fishing on chinook salmon by sport fishermen — including nonresident charter customers — is taking away fishing time from Southeast Alaska’s commercial troll fleet this summer.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Aug. 6 that trollers in August and September will likely lose out on the remainder of the summer troll fishery allocation for chinook because sport fishermen across Southeast are on track to exceed their summer 2024 allocation by about 14,000 chinook, and because of a regulation change that the department implemented in 2022.

Regardless of the chinook issue, the sum...