Gillnetters in the Taku fishery harvested about 1,500 kings in a 48-hour opening, fetching about $4 a pound for fish averaging 17-18 pounds, said Kevin Monagle, Juneau area commercial fisheries manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Prices for smaller kings were about $2.75 a pound, he said.

"It should pick up (in the second week of May openers)," he said. "It's still early. We are on the front end of the run. We should see better numbers this week and next," with the peak of the run coming between May 15 and the first week of June, he said.

In the Stikine fishery, some 600 large kings were landed. Monagle said prices to fishermen were probably about the same as the Taku Fishery. Local reports on prices were not immediately available.

Fifty vessels participated in the Taku fishery and 40 in the Stikine, he said.

Fishermen have had unusually good weather so far in the season, and the re-opening of the Taku and Stikine fisheries has added about six to seven weeks to the overall gillnet fishery season, biologists said. "It translates to a nice shot in the arm for these guys," Monagle said. "We expect the price to come down over time."

Most of the kings are being sold fresh to domestic markets. Monagle said that the winter troll fisheries were already supplying king salmon to markets all over the country. He doubted, however, that the Taku and Stikine fisheries would have a detrimental affect on sockeyes coming from the Copper River fishery, which opens May 16. "They have developed a name for themselves and that's what is going to carry (Copper River)," he said. "Probably more of a factor will be the chinook abundance index being high up and down the West Coast."

Monagle noted that the preseason forecast and allocations for both rivers would be adjusted as soon as biologists had enough information from tagged fish and that the allowable harvest would then be adjusted accordingly.

Both the Taku and Stikine fisheries were largely overfished in the 1970s and halted for years. Under an international treaty between the United States and Canada, the reopening of these fisheries had to be negotiated. Monagle said a significant amount of money now goes into stock assessment of the Taku and Stikine, which is monitored by biologists from Alaska and Canada. "We have a lot of information now that we didn't have 30 years ago," on run timing and abundance of fish, which helps with the forecast of in-river escapement, he said. "Canadians and Americans now feel we can safely process these fisheries and still have adequate escapement."

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaska