At the last Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group meeting of the year, managers and other members from the Delta found themselves with no action items, but plenty about this year's salmon season to reflect on.
Much of the meeting was spent discussing the state of the many weirs throughout the region. State and federal managers said that several had experienced trouble counting fish due to unusually high water levels. Openers are called based on those numbers, and if they are skewed managers may make recommendations from inaccurate estimates.
The federally operated Kwethluk weir, for example, only operated properly for 15 days out of the season, which made data from the weir unreliable.
The federally operated weir on the Tuluksak River did better, but did not report good news. It recorded chum salmon at their lowest levels since 1991. Members of the working group from all over the river echoed this finding.
Members and managers also expressed concern about low silver numbers, though high water levels made those numbers hard to report. In addition, members trying to catch silvers complained of late-run reds, saying that the sockeye were often too mature to eat and had large humps and discolored skin.
Though there was much to think about, there were no action items voted on because there is nothing left to do. Overall, it was a quiet, short meeting compared with the ones at the start of the season when fishermen and managers seemed to be at odds. The meeting ended early, and no quorum was ever established.