Commercial Fishing Forecast for 2000
For the full report see the State of Alaska's Fish & Game, Commercial Fishing division website at:
http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/cf_home.htm
The document can be found at:
http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/finfish/salmon/forecast/2000/s_fore00.pdf
Basically this is a forecast made by the State for COMMERCIAL fishing . But as a general rule, when the runs are strong both sports and commercial fisherman benefit. And basically what it says for the Southcentral area I fish is that we should get a few more reds than in 1999 and the same or a wee bit more Kings. Sounds good to me. Now you have to keep in mind taht this is not a cience but when its still months from the big Kings yet, you gotta look for any reason to be optimistic. So the parts important to me look like this.
Looking at the data for projected HARVEST (number of fish) in the Upper Cook Inlet, the numbers looke like this:
| Species | 2000 Projection | 1999 harvest | up/down |
| Chinook/King | 15,000 | 14,000 | up 1000 |
| Sockeye/Red | 3,000,000 | 2,680,000 | up 320,000 |
| Coho/Silver | 150,000 | 125,000 | up 25,000 |
| Pink/Humpy | 500,000 | 16,000 | up 284,000 (even year run) |
| Chum/Dog | 200,000 | 174,000 | up 26,000 |
| TOTAL | 3,900,000 | 3,000,000 | up 900,000 |
Wow! 900,000 more fish caught by the commercial folks in 2000! I hope fish and game is right. At least its a reason to be optimistic. We did well with both reds and kings on the Kenai River and a large number of the reds in upper cook inlet are headed toward the Kenai River. Well its not a science but at least a fe folks that get paid to do this are predicting a better year. Who am I to differ with a forecast like that!!!
The one truth, and you can laugh all ya want, is that the Cook Inlet streams will have an abundance of pink salmon this year. The large runs of pinks salmon only occur on the even numbered years in this area in many streams. I know a lot of die hard salmon fisherman are laughing but on ultra light tackle or fly rod they are a kick in the pants! With guests, especially the young ones, the pinks can save your day. Fresh out of the ocean and mint bight, they are dang good eating. In our family we like the reds, but we think bright pinks canned or jarred are pretty good too! Just make sure they are mint bright or better yet, catch them in the ocean!