PWS shrimp pot fishery harvests 66,480 pounds

Fresh Prince William Sound spot prawns were sold by the 5-pound bag in Cordova’s south harbor on Friday, May 8. Photo by Vivian Kennedy/The Cordova Times

Prince William Sound’s 2020 shrimp pot fishery has closed for the season, in an effort to ensure that the harvest does not exceed the allowable catch.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists at Homer made the decision based on an estimated total catch of 66,480 pounds of whole shrimp, or 98 percent of the guideline harvest level, through May 9.

ADF&G biologists noted that the first fishery period opened on April 15 and closed on April 26 with 45,856 pounds of whole shrimp harvested by 55 vessels, according to reports made on ADF&G fish tickets.

The second period opened on May 4, with statistical area 486034 closed on May 7 and the remaining statistical areas closed on May 9. The estimated harvest during the second period, from vessel call-in reports, was 20,623 pounds of whole shrimp harvested by 48 vessels, or about 3,400 pounds a day.

Some 30,120 pounds, or 45 percent of the total allowable harvest was taken from statistical area 486034. A maximum of 50 percent of the guidelines harvest may be caught in any one statistical area, state biologists noted.

Advertisement