After just eight days in early July, the summer king salmon season for Southeast trollers is over. The Alaska Department of Fish & Game announced Friday that there will be no second king opening in August. It will be only the third summer in 15 years without an August opening.
The announcement ends a season that has been the subject of unusual controversy between Alaska its neighbors to the south, all of whom fish under the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty. Alaska argued that the preseason forecast vastly underestimated the amount of kings returning this year and asked for the right to catch more fish. But the state gave in under pressure from Washington, Oregon, and the federal government and agreed to abide by the lower estimate.
In the end, however, the fleet caught more fish — and faster — than would be expected under that lower number
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