Annette Islands Reserve salmon
MSC status
Certified as sustainable in June 2011
Summary
Species: Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta)
Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)
King Salmon (Oncorhynchus tchawytscha)
Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha)
Location: Waters of the Annette Islands Reserve located in southeast Alaska, USA.
Defined as within 3000 feet of shoreline at mean low tide.
Fishing methods: Gillnet, seine and troll methods.
Number of fisheries: 4
More about salmon
All salmon begin the same way, as externally fertilized eggs in a gravelly redd that is rushing with fresh water. Rearing time and location within the river and estuary system also varies by species. Once in the ocean, immature juveniles usually stay close to the coast for several months and later move to the open ocean to feed on plankton, fish and crustaceans. It is their diet of carotenoid pigment laden crustaceans that give salmon their distinctive pink muscle. Populations of salmon diverge and mix with other populations in the open ocean. Pacific salmon species originating in North America can migrate vast distances across the entire North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea.
Time at sea may vary within a population, except for pink salmon, which are predictably at sea for 2 years. Salmon return to the freshwater system to spawn and are able to home-in thousands of kilometers from many different locations and arrive at nearly the same time as the rest of their run. It is also at this time that salmon are typically caught in the fisheries.
More about the fishing methods
Purse seines consist of a netted frame with a floatline and a leadline. The leadline has pursing rings through
which the pursing wire is strung. The seine is deployed and the vessel encircles aggregating salmon. The
pursing wire is pulled so that the seine is closed on the bottom and the catch is hauled on deck.
Set gillnets also have a floatline and a weighted leadline but are deployed in a linear fashion and target migrating salmon. Gillnets are size selective with various mesh sizes to target different species and size classes. As salmon swim through the gillnet they are entangled, usually by the opercula or gill coverings.
Troll fishing targets feeding salmon and consists of a line with baited hooks that are towed through the water column usually near the surface or at a specified depth. Often trollers will deploy multiple lines by using outriggers on the vessel.
Fishery tonnage
The tonnage for the Annette Islands Reserve salmon fishery is approximately 3,000 metric tonnes.
Commercial market
The fishery produce primarily frozen fillets and headed and gutted salmon for European markets. The other half, mostly from the seine harvest, are sold to processors off the island.
Actual eligibility date
5th October 2010
