PETERSBURG, AK Commercial salmon trollers in Southeast Alaska have seen a better catch this winter season. Trollers have landed 12-thousand 700 king salmon in Southeast, three months into the season. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s regional troll management biologist Pattie Skannes says overall it’s been a pretty good season. She says the catch is running ahead of last year and the five-year average by roughly 55 percent and it's also slightly ahead of the 10 year average for this time of the season. The winter season opened in early October and can remain open through April, unless the fleet catches 45,000 kings before that date. Last year’s total winter harvest topped 42-thousand Chinook. Skannes says the number of trollers out fishing has been up this winter. Typically, trolling effort slows down in the middle part of the season and ramps back up again in March and April. The price for troll caught king salmon has remained strong this winter, averaging six dollars and 68 cents a pound for the season. Most recently the price is averaging seven dollars and 60 cents a pound. Skannes says 79 percent of the regional winter harvest to date has come from three districts.
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