Fraser River Sockeye Fisheries and Fisheries Management - Cohen ...

activity (Bocking and Peterman 1988) and in 2010 were traded for as much as $135,000for driftnet permits and $35,000 for setnet permits. Participation level by permit holdersin a given season is influenced by the expectations of price and the pre-season forecast ofcatch. Participation in recent years has ranged between 1,300 and 1,500 drift-netters ofthe possible 1,863.Movement of commercial fishing permits among terminal fishing districts located at theriver mouths is controlled with a registration regulation that slows movement amongdistricts by imposing a 48-h waiting period for those wishing to change. This regulationprotects the less mobile vessels (usually owned by local residents) from excessivecompetition that would arise from a fully mobile fleet. The Togiak District has thelowest available catch of all the districts and has a “one-way” district registration planwhereby permit holders who register or transfer to Togiak must remain there for theduration of the season. Impetus to improve the economic viability of the fishery in recentyears has led to various regulation changes that allow increasing the amount of fishinggear above the 150 fathom limit placed on drift-netters when two permit holders areonboard the same vessel.Table 26 Number and average value of commercial fishing permits issued during2009 for the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery. Values wereobtained from the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commissionwebsite (CFEC 2009).Drift Gillnet Set Gillnet Across GearsResident 867 672 1539Non-resident 996 311 1307Total 1863 983 2846No. multiple permit holders 12 52 64Mean sale price $78,300 $28,200 $53,250Subsistence and Recreational FisheriesThis Bay sockeye salmon fishery is rather simple and straightforward with respect toallocation among sectors. The sport fishery is conducted entirely in freshwater andtargets Chinook and coho salmon (Dye and Schwanke 2009). There has been no need toallocate sockeye harvest to the sport fishery because it is virtually nonexistent. Almostno sport harvest occurs (none reported in 2008; Morstad et al. 2010), but is estimatedwith mail in surveys (Clark 2005; Dye and Schwanke 2009).131