Weathervane scallop fishery shut for the season

Fishing for weathervane scallops in Registration Area E of Prince William Sound will remain closed for the 2020-21 season, Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials said on Tuesday, June 23.

The East Kayak subsection has been closed since 2012. The West Kayak subsection was open for the 2018-19 season, but fishery performance was poor, with a decline in catch per unit effort of over 20 percent from the previous season.

ADF&G surveys were conducted in the East Kayak subsection in 2018 and in the West Kayak subsection in 2019. Scallop abundance in the East Kayak subsection was found to be at its lowest level in the history of the survey, and abundance in the West Kayak subsection had declined steeply since the prior survey in 2016, state fisheries biologists said.

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