As concerns over king salmon stock continue, the Ketchikan CHARR King Salmon Derby — as the citizens of Ketchikan have known it for many years — is officially on indefinite hiatus. After two years with no derby-fishing opportunities for any species though, Ketchikan’s sport anglers this year will be able to compete in the First Annual Ketchikan CHARR Silver Salmon Derby, set for Sept. 3-5.
CHARR organized a silver salmon derby in 2018 and 2019 in place of its traditional king derby amid concerns over king salmon numbers, but the events were still billed as the 71st and 72nd Annual Ketchikan CHARR Salmon Derby. The renaming of the derby as the First Annual Ketchikan CHARR Silver Salmon Derby marks a rebrand of sorts, although CHARR derby coordinator Michael Briggs hopes the events will still be familiar to most people.
This year will be the first since 2019 in which any sort of salmon derby was held by the organization. Briggs explained that the decision to forego the king derby indefinitely was informed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
“The reality is that the stocks of kings have been deplenished to the point where we may not be able to do a king derby again for a while,” Briggs said. “We’re hopeful that the measures that Fish and Game are taking to help replenish the stocks do their job and make it so sometime down the road we can actually have a king salmon derby again, but at this point it’s not in the cards.”
While some anglers may have remained hopeful for the return of the king salmon derby since its departure in 2018, the official move towards silver salmon signals a more permanent shift for the event. For the foreseeable future, silver salmon will be the target species for CHARR’s annual salmon derby. Briggs is hopeful that these measures will help to improve king stock numbers, and “allow us to fish for chinook for generations to come.”
Still, Briggs remains hopeful that the king salmon derby can make a return at some point. He stated that if the event again becomes justifiable in the future, participants could possibly see two separate salmon derbies — one for kings and one for silvers — held over the course of the summer.
He explained that with the shift in species, the length of the derby has also changed accordingly.
“The old derby was three weekends long, which, when you’re fishing kings, it can be a little bit fewer and farther between, so you kind of need that extra time,” Briggs said. “But with silvers, especially in the first week of September when there’s so many of them typically, we don’t really need to stretch it out over three weeks. So we’re just going to make it a one-weekend shootout over three days and start this as the new event going forward.”
Last year, CHARR originally announced their intention to reinstate the king derby, but a swift response from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game advising against such an event prompted a change of plans. Conflicts related to COVID-19 eventually forced CHARR to forgo any kind of salmon derby in 2021. Briggs said that a king derby would likely only return with the “blessing of the state.”
Alaska Department of Fish and Game Ketchikan Area Manager Kelly Reppert detailed an action plan that has been in place since 2018 aimed at reducing the harvest of wild king salmon in the area by both sport and commercial fishermen. She explained that there has been persisting concern for wild king salmon stocks as productivity in the Ketchikan area has continued to be poor.
“The Ketchikan area king salmon fishery is managed under the guidelines of the Unuk and Chickamin River King Salmon Stock Status and Action Plan, adopted by the Board of Fisheries,” Reppert said. “An action plan for the Unuk River stock has been in place since 2018 and since then the Chickamin River has been added as a stock of concern. This action plan outlines specific management measures to reduce harvest of wild king salmon stocks in the Ketchikan area in both the sport and commercial fisheries.”
The plan includes time, area and bag limit restrictions through August 14 aimed at offering some protection for the king salmon run in Behm Canal.
Additional restrictions for sport fishing will also be put in place in 2022.
“In the sport fishery, the Mountain Point hatchery opportunity area is delayed by one week to allow more Unuk River king salmon to return to the river to spawn,” Reppert said. “The Unuk River is forecasted to be around 1,891 fish which is just above the lower bound of the escapement goal (1,800 – 3,800). A weak return of the 5-year old fish, the dominant age class returning to the Unuk River is expected. There is additional concern because this age class experienced poor freshwater survival and no marine recoveries have been encountered. Collectively, these management restrictions have been effective at reducing harvest of wild king salmon stocks.”
Reppert explained that “the Ketchikan area king salmon fishery is managed under the guidelines of the Unuk and Chickamin River King Salmon Stock Status and Action Plan, adopted by the Board of Fisheries.”
CHARR is also taking additional steps to ensure that not too many fish are harvested in the name of the derby. In the past, they offered a cumulative weight prize for fishermen who accumulated the most amount of fish by poundage. Briggs said that this prize perhaps led to more fish being kept than otherwise would have. It also contributed to weigh-station volunteers being overworked because contestants were more inclined to weigh and enter all of their fish, regardless of size.
A full slate of prizes has yet to be confirmed, but Briggs revealed that Alaska Airlines will be co-sponsoring this year’s event. As a result, the top prize on this year’s ladder will include two round trip airline tickets and $5,000 cash. The kids ladder will be sponsored entirely by Alaska Sportfishing Expeditions. There will be 15 places on the adult ladder and 10 places in the kids division; a complete list of prizes will be announced at a later date.
Briggs predicted that the turnout for the derby will be similar to that of 2019, and shared that his impression of a silver derby was that it was better suited towards families with young children.
“I would imagine that turnout will be similar to what it was in 2019,” Briggs said. “We sold somewhere around 1,000 tickets that year and most of the feedback I got from that summer was that [the silver derby] was really better for the kids. If you go out fishing for kings all day and you only get three or four bites throughout the course of a day, it gets a little dull for the little ones. But with the silvers you’re catching them left and right, so the kids really had a great time with the silver derby and we’re hopeful that continues this year, as well.”
*This article was originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News*
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