While Unalaska’s biggest subsistence salmon run got off to a slow start this season, it’s now at a sustainable level.
The start of the McLees Lake run was so low, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued an emergency order early this month to protect the area around the mouth of the creek.
While there are a lot of factors at play, biologist Colton Lipka said low water could have affected the run and they are seeing that in places like the Orzinski Bay Weir near the Shumagin Islands.
“They’re facing a similar situation as far as kind of low water,” Lipka said. “The fish are doing a trickle in rather than big pulses and pushes.”
In Unalaska, the McLees run met the goal for minimum escapement on Friday and restrictions have been lifted. So far more than 11,000 sockeye have passed through the weir.
While Lipka said this year’s run is below average, it is not the lowest recorded. For now, Fish and Game has opened subsistence salmon fishing in the waters of Reese Bay up to the McLees Lake stream output.
Lipka said this is the department’s final year using Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund money for the project. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is in the process of securing other funds, but if they are unsuccessful Lipka said the weir won’t operate next year; instead, they would monitor the run through aerial surveys.
Zoe Sobel is a reporter with Alaska's Energy Desk based in Unalaska. As a high schooler in Portland, Maine, Zoë Sobel got her first taste of public radio at NPR’s easternmost station. From there, she moved to Boston where she studied at Wellesley College and worked at WBUR, covering sports for Only A Game and the trial of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
