Harvesting Alaska Salmon

Trolling

In Southeast Alaska, the first commercial fishermen to encounter returning salmon are members of the troll fleet. Trollers are small fishing vessels operated by one or two fishermen who fish with a number of lines and hooks baited with herring or artificial lures.

They're allowed to fish beyond the inshore limits set for net fishermen, and also generally have more weeks in the year to fish. Troll-caught fish are typically harvested as they move inshore and are called "brights" or "ocean caught."

Less than ten percent of Alaska Salmon are caught through trolling. And only Coho and King are the target species of the catch. But what these troll-caught salmon lack in quantity, they make up for in quality. No fish is treated with more care from the time it leaves the water until it is delivered to the retailer's door. Fish are caught one at a time and handled individually.

And because of the small number of fish caught, combined with their higher quality, they are the most valuable, pound for pound, of the Alaska Salmon species.

Once caught, they're bled, gilled, and gutted. Ice is carefully packed in the body and head cavities. The fish are then laid on a layer of ice away from contact with other fish. The body cavities drain liquids away from the fish into the vessel's bilge, where it is pumped overboard.

If the vessel has freezing capability, the fish are blast-frozen, dipped in fresh water to form a protective ice glaze, and placed in the hold. Almost all troll-caught fish go into the fresh, frozen, or smoked market.

Gillnetting

The greatest number of Alaska Salmon are caught through gillnetting. Gillnetting involves laying a net wall in the water in the fishes' path. The fish swim into the mesh and their gills become entangled in the webbing, preventing them from escaping.

Most gillnetters are small one- to three-man boats. State law restricts gillnetters in Alaska's Bristol Bay from being longer than 32 feet. Elsewhere, most gillnetters are 32 to 42 feet. A gillnet fisherman uses a net from 900 to 1800 feet long, a choice not made by him, but by the State of Alaska for fishery management reasons. Mesh size is also regulated.

Some gillnetters are equipped to carry fish on ice or in refrigerated holds, but most deliver their catch daily. They usually divide the hold into several bins that are lined with a brailer bag. Then, when the gillnetter comes alongside the tendering vessel, the brailer bags are simply lifted aboard, emptied, and returned to the catcher vessel. This reduces handling of the fish, which significantly improves the quality of the catch.

Purse Seining

Large numbers of salmon are caught with seins in Southeastern, Central, and Western Alaska, and up the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. All species of Alaska Salmon are harvested by this method.

Purse seiners are generally larger than gillnetters, but by Alaska law can be no longer than 58 feet. This gives them the stability needed to operate in stormy fjords and channels.

A purse sein is a net that's set in a circle around the school of fish and is then drawn closed (or "pursed") at the bottom. Salmon have a tendency to jump and "fin" on the surface, which signals their location to fishermen. And because Alaska Salmon migrate in tight schools, it is not unusual for an Alaska seiner to "wrap up" 250 to 1500 fish or more with one set.