Southeast fisheries drawing to a close for summer

WRANGELL — One of Wrangell’s two seafood processors has drawn down production early for the season due to lower than expected returns this summer.

Updated twice daily, on Tuesday the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Blue Sheet reported just over 143 million salmon have been harvested statewide, though numbers were not available for the Bristol Bay, Kuskokwim and Aleutian Islands districts. Seventy-four percent of these are pink salmon, with over 106 million already reported in. Coming off of last year’s season – declared a “disaster” by Gov. Bill Walker in January – forecasts for this year...