Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Despite relatively low salmon harvest numbers in the Lynn Canal this season, Haines Packing Company processed 2.5 million pounds of salmon—the most since Harry Rietze took over the plant at Letnikof Cove in 2013.

Forty gillnetters, or about two-thirds of the Haines fleet, landed their fish at Letnikof. That’s a 60% increase from last year.

Haines’s biggest processor, OBI Seafoods’ plant at Excursion Inlet, didn’t operate this season due to consecutive years of low harvest and a poor pink salmon forecast for 2021. The company still sent tenders to the Lynn Canal, but it processed fish, and paid raw fish tax, in Petersburg. Haines Borough staff feared that tax dollars would dwindle as a result.

But the borough’s revenue will see a boost thanks to the surge in processing at Letnikof. Several local fishermen decided to switch over to Haines Packing Company this year.

One of them was Steve Fossman, who had pitched to Excursion Inlet for several decades. “It just seemed like things were really gravitating towards Haines Packing,” Fossman said. “(They’re) more personal because they’re right here in town…bringing a lot of fish tax to the borough.” Fossman said competition among processors in the Canal is good for the fishery.

The borough’s raw fish tax revenue can vary widely from year to year. Haines netted $121,208 and $128,174 in fiscal years 2017 and 2018. Revenue swelled to $352,884 in fiscal year 2019, then fell to $226,890 in 2020 and $159,924 in 2021.

Due to an extremely poor fishing season in 2020, which saw reduced processing at Excursion Inlet, the borough budgeted for only $35,000 in fish tax revenue in the 2022 budget. The borough hasn’t received that tax yet, so the estimate’s accuracy is unclear—but $35,000 would be the lowest amount of revenue since 1990. The borough will budget for this year’s fish landings in the 2023 budget and will receive that tax next fall.

Raw fish tax revenue goes into the borough’s areawide general fund but in the past has helped fund harbor improvements and operating costs. Borough chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart called the tax “a significant source of revenue in Haines.”

Across Southeast, this season’s estimated salmon harvest of 58 million fish quadrupled last season’s total. Statewide, the harvest was near record highs in terms of both total weight and number of fish caught, according to state estimates and a recent KTOO report.

But in the Lynn Canal gillnet fishery, which closed on Oct. 6, the catch was well below average. The fishery’s total salmon harvest was estimated at 845,700 fish, 55% of the recent 10-year average, and valued at about $4.8 million, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Nicole Zeiser.

Chum salmon comprised most of the harvest, at an estimated 525,719 fish, only 28% of the 10-year average, followed by pink salmon at 213,549 fish, about average, Zeiser said.

​​“The hatchery chum run this year was really lackluster,” said local fisherman Macky Cassidy, who, like Fossman, switched over to Haines Packing this year. The vast majority of chum harvested in the Lynn Canal are hatchery stock. The wild Chilkat River chum run, which hit a record low in 2020, met the state’s escapement goal this year.

The Lynn Canal king, sockeye and coho harvests were below average, despite a rare late August sockeye run up Chilkoot that Cassidy called “gangbusters.”

“It went strong for five weeks,” she said.

Although harvest numbers across the board weren’t as strong as past years, prices were relatively high. At Haines Packing, chum topped out at $1.15; sockeye went for $2; pinks sold at $0.35 and coho at $1.75.

Both Fossman and Cassidy praised Rietze for offering a reliable service.

“I think it’s really cool to fish for Haines Packing Company because we get to see some of that fish being sold right here in town,” Cassidy said. “That closes the loop. You’re not catching all that fish and sending it to who knows where.”

When asked if she would pitch to Haines Packing next year, Cassidy said yes. “Definitely.”

Rietze said he plans to improve the capacity of his salmon fillet line. “Overall it was a good season, thanks to the fishermen who supported us, a great tender fleet, and a phenomenal crew who have returned year after year,” Rietze wrote in an email to the CVN.