Large Puget Sound pink run surprises managers and fishermen

摘要

It's not often fishermen and managers see a startling increase in salmon runs, but Puget Sound pinks might be one such case. Pink salmon arrived in numbers that surprised the state and fishermen. "The pinks were overwhelming, pushing into new rivers,"said Jeromy Jording, Puget Sound commercial salmon fishery manager for the state. "I was talking to some old-timers, and they said 20 or 30 years ago, pinks in South Sound were fairly imcommon." No longer. In South Sound rivers alone, the run size has gone from 4,800 fish in 1999 to a forecasted 1.5 million in 2009. The overall forecast for pink salmon returning to Puget Sound in 2009 was 5.2 million fish. Also helping state harvest numbers was a strong Fraser River run, some of which transits U.S. waters. South Sound gillnetters had a brief shot on pinks, said Pete Knutson of the Puget Sound Salmon Harvesters Association. But there were problems with mesh size and limited openings, Knutson said.