Spot shrimp fishery in Puget Sound produced good catches and fishery managers will assess catch data to see if more days can be added later this month Leave a reply
Preliminary reports from the Puget Sound spot shrimp opener on June 11 were decent.
“It was a nice day and we surveyed Area 10 and 11 (central and south central Puget Sound) and it looks like most people did well,” said Don Velasquez, a WDFW shellfish manager. “We’ll be taking a look at the catch data to see if any places can reopen.”
WDFW plans to have the early first day data completed sometime later next week and it appears there will be some reopening that will likely occur at the end of this month.
Elliott Bay is definitely finished for the season, but outside in Area 10 and Area 11 could see another opening.
Aerial flights showed 700 shrimp boats in Areas 8-1 and 8-2 (east side of Whidbey Island), which is a good weekday turnout. In Hood Canal (12) aerial counts were down with about 1,049 boats counted compared to a normal year would be closer to 1,400 to 1,500. Catches were also good in northern Puget Sound (Area 9).
In the meantime here are some options for shrimp:
The western and eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca (Marine Catch Areas 4, 5 and 5) is open daily and closes once the catch quota is achieved.
The Discovery Bay Shrimp District (6) will be open June 15 and 28 only from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. Any extension beyond those dates will depend on catch assessments.
The San Juan Islands (Iceberg Point, Point Colville, Biz Point, Salmon Bank, northern Rosario Strait, Bellingham Bay, Sucia and Matia Islands and Strait of Georgia (7 South and 7 East) are open June 15, 26, 28 and 30. Fishing is allowed one hour before official sunrise and gear must be pulled before one hour after official sunset.
The San Juan Islands in San Juan Channel, Spieden Channel, Stuart, and Waldron Islands (7 West) is open and closes once the catch quota is achieved.
Hood Canal (12) will be open June 15, 26, 28 and 29 and July 15 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day depending on catch assessment.
Southern Puget Sound (13) is closed for spot shrimp due to low abundance levels but coonstripe and pink shrimp is open daily through Oct. 15 with a 10 pound per person daily limit and a maximum depth of 200 feet to set pots.