Why not catch and release in Alaska?
The fishery in Alaska is one of the most managed on the planet. AKDF&G counts fish at the mouths of most rivers, so that they know how many fish are coming back from year to year. This is so that they can regulate the catch of the fish in order to ensure future runs of salmon. If there are not enough salmon they will lower limits or shut down all fishing, called an emergency order. Too many fish and they will up the limits and increase angler take. Each species of fish has what is called escapement. This number is the one the biologists are shooting for in order to assure the next run of fish in 4 years. The only exceptions to this are the non-commercial runs of Chum and Pink salmon. Normally these fish are not sought after for food, though personally I have eaten Pink Salmon from the ocean or which have been in freshwater less than 24 hours and they are DELICIOUS. I plan on taking home a box of pinks this year just to smoke.
Too many fish and the run suffers. Too much dead material in the rivers means less oxygen. Not enough and the smolt's, or baby salmon do not have food over the winter and on the way out to sea when they have grown enough.
All pacific salmon die after the spawning run. For that reason keeping some fish is actually part of the cycle of life on the Kenai. I call Salmon the nitrogen farmers of Alaska. Without salmon all plant and animal life in Alaska would die. The dirt in Alaska is all volcanic, for the most part. Devoid of nitrogen which is essential for growth. Salmon dying provides the nitrogen that is in all the soil in Alaska. Bears, squirrels, birds, moose and other critters then disperse the nitrogen either through dragging of carcasses or by eating plant life and then leaving little presents in the woods for the plant life in the way of manure.
If you are going to take salmon and halibut home to eat, you need to start the planning before you go. With overnite shipping from Alaska being in the neighborhood of $4.00 per pound, or more, sending a 50 pound box of salmon home could cost you $200.00. If you plan your packing on the way to Alaska you can ship it home as your baggage and save a ton of money. What a lot of folks do is pack a carry on with their good clothes and necessities. Then they bring either a duffel bag full of old clothes that they want to donate to a local charity, or the group packs a single bag with gear they want to come home with. This way you get rid of your baggage and just ship home hard frozen boxes of fish.
How do I get frozen fish home? Most locations on the Kenai have Vacuum packaging facilities.
If not there are commercial packing facilities all over Homer, Seward, Soldotna, and Ninilchik on the main Highway 1, the Sterling Highway. Once fish is vacuum packed you can normally have it hard frozen. Most of the big stores in Alaska, like Myers, Walmart, and the Trustworthy Hardware in Soldotna sell boxes for sending fish home. Cost is around $15.00 for a box that will hold 50 pounds of hard frozen fish. These boxes have held as long as 3 days in transit keeping fish frozen or below 35 degrees. Vacuum packed fish can be unfrozen and temps to 40 degrees will not hurt. No oxygen, no deterioration. However these Cardboard and styrofoam boxes will keep your fish quite well on a flight home. 3 boxes of fish will cost around $200 with current baggage charges. However if there are 3 people and each takes one box home the cost is $25 to $50.00 a very large savings.
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