As usual, Salmo g is asking good questions. Here are a few observations and opinions.
Much of the fisheries in SE AK are not composed of commercial folks from AK. Many of them are based in Seattle. Ideally, it would be better if those folks to wait for the salmon to migrate south to WA waters before harvesting them, but that’s not what they do. Low-holing them in SE AK seems to be preferred. Nevertheless, if we want to consider ROI, the origin of the fleet (e.g., Seattle) that is catching those fish should be considered.
Over the past two years, the Canadians have almost eliminated commercial harvest of Chinook off the BC coast. The intent is to help feed orcas (SRKW). This had the unintended benefit of putting a lot more fall Chinook into the Columbia River this past year. So, the ROI for Columbia River fall Chinook this past year would likely be considerably different than in years past.
Ditto for the fisheries off Sekiu. There was likely a lot more salmon originating from WA State hatcheries this past year because of the reduction in BC harvest.
As Carcassman has suggested, WDFW seems to have determined that fall Chinook salmon have the highest ROI. That should not be surprising. Fall Chinook can be raised by the millions for pennies. They have a sub-yearling life history, so the adults spawn in Sept/Oct, the fry hatch in winter, become smolt in early spring, and are released in April/May. So there is very little need to feed them before they are released. And they don’t spend the summer in the hatchery so densities are not an issue. Again, without the concern for fish feed or density-dependent issues (warm water/disease), fall Chinook are cheap and easy to raise.
And since fall Chinook are the target of the marine fisheries off the coast of WA, they have the highest contribution to the economy of coastal Washington communities. There is lots of $$’s wrapped up in boats, fuel, tackle, hotels, etc in this fishery. Not so much for bank anglers (such as I) who fish locally without spending much time or money doing it.
In terms of permit holders, only the Bristol Bay fishery has more nonresident than resident salmon permit holders. Permits for "power troll" in SEAK are held mostly by Alaska residents. Though it's unclear how the landings work out between nonresidents vs residents.
https://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=29&docid=64890It's a bit of a stretch to say "Canadians have almost eliminated the commercial harvest of Chinook off the BC coast". Per the PSC Chinook Technical Committee report (TCCHINOOK-22-04.pdf) at least in 2021, the commercial Chinook catch was less than max allowable under the PST but definitely not eliminated. In 2021, the allowable sport and troll Chinook catch for Northern BC was 154K; actual catch was 91K with 65K in troll. For WCVI, the total allowable was 88K; the actual was 76K w 47K in troll. Per this report, season dates and areas were modified to reduce catch of "domestic stocks of concern"... notably WCVI and upper Fraser Chinook.
Canada did come out with News Release for 2022 describing season and area closures to help ORCAs. It was unclear to what extent these season restrictions would reduce overall catch though and what it would mean compared to what was done in 2021. Covid has messed things up from 2020 onward too.
https://www.psc.org/publications/technical-reports/technical-committee-reports/chinook/Regarding WA coast. Yes, Chinook is clearly the focus of the commercial troll fishery. For sport, Chinook is focus in Area 3,4. As move south and the charter fleet builds, Area 2 sport is both Chinook and coho. Area 1 is clearly coho emphasis. The private boat fleet is mostly Chinook in all areas. For sport, Area 3, 4 probably doesn't need coho, Area 2 probably needs some coho, Area 1 has to have coho to be viable.