Summer troll update: Fish scarce, catch low

Shane Ulery pulls chum salmon aboard his classic double-ender wooden troller F/V Helen-T, homeported in Thorne Bay, in Eastern Channel on Aug. 8, 2025. (Daily Sitka Sentinel file photo)

By Cole Haddock

Sitka Daily Sentinel

On Friday morning, the 10th day of the summer king salmon troll opening, the catch was less than half of the harvest target of 83,700, fishery officials said. The opening, which was initially projected to last seven to ten days, will continue until further notice.

Department of Fish and Game troll fishery management biologist Grant Hagerman said that since July 1 fish abundance, fleet effort and catch rate have been low.

“Fewer fish, fewer boats, and fewer fish per boat,” Hagerman summarized for the Sentinel.

Hagerman says the fishery will stay open until further notice. Last year, the summer troll opening lasted four days. As of Friday morning, Fish & Game estimates that trollers had caught fewer than 35,000 chinook in nine days in this opening, compared to 40,000 chinook harvested in four days in 2025.

There is a higher treaty allocation this year; Southeast commercial trollers can harvest up to 146,000 treaty chinook. Last year the limit was a record low of 92,730.

“There’s absolutely a chance that we will not hit the harvest limit this opening,” Hagerman said today. The remaining allocation will transfer to the August fishery.

The low abundance of treaty salmon will limit the catch, the biologist said. “You could have one thousand boats out there – if (the fish) are not there, you’re not gonna catch them."

“The problem is, catch rates are much lower compared to previous years that have had a similar pre-season project abundance,” Hagerman said.

Catch rates are how Fish & Game monitors chinook abundance in-season. Summer chinook are weighing in at an average 10.5 pounds, while the average this time last year was 10.8 pounds, Fish and Game said.

Department data show trollers are receiving an average $9 per pound, up from an average $8 a pound at this time last year.

“It’s a very high summer price," Hagerman said. "We are approaching prices that they see in the winter fishery.”

Despite the high price, the fleet effort is still pretty low, he said. “There is incentive for trollers to go fish at a higher price, but if the abundance isn’t there, it doesn’t matter. If fuel prices are high, they’re not willing to stay out and burn fuel.”

Hagerman added that coho abundance is also low this year, which doesn’t increase the incentive for trollers to go out.

Since the first openings, 400 troll permit-holders have been fishing near Sitka, compared with 470 permit-holders fishing by this time last year, Hagerman said.

Part of the reason for the low fleet effort is that many boats are heading to a terminal harvest area for hatchery chum at Neets Bay near Ketchikan, Hagerman said, adding that these fish are fetching high prices this season.

He estimated that Southeast trollers are receiving an average $1.45 per pound of chum, up from an average $0.70 at this time last year, per ADF&G data.

The independent seafood business news website Undercurrent News reports chum prices are driven up by a record low catch year in Japan. “Japan’s Hokkaido forecasts chum return 47% below last year’s record low,” Undercurrent reports.

In December 2025, Hokkaido University researchers published a paper titled Climate-driven shifts in marine habitat explain recent declines of Japanese Chum salmon. The paper said that chum salmon feeding and overwintering habitats are shifting due to “increasing ocean temperatures, deteriorating forage conditions, and strengthening wind and marine heatwave intensity.”

According to the paper, there is a general shift in chum habitat toward the North Pacific. During feeding migration, suitable chum salmon habitat decreased in the Bering Sea and increased in the Arctic. These changes, “potentially affect the Japanese chum salmon stocks.”

Another factor affecting the fleet effort is fuel prices. The Fisheries Economic Data Program reports marine fuel prices in Sitka averaged $5.45 per gallon in June, compared with $4.20 a year earlier.

In June, a Kodiak fisherman explained on Alaska Public Media, “If we’re in a season where we’re catching a lot of fish, doubling that price of fuel wouldn't hurt us that much. This year, different deal.," he said.

• This story originally appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.