Chignik opens four districts to salmon fishing for 48 hours starting Monday

Chignik seiners will get a 48-hour window beginning at 7 a.m. Monday, Sept. 7, when the Chignik Bay, Central, Western and Perryville districts open to commercial salmon fishing. The period closes at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, under an advisory the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued Saturday afternoon.

One piece of the Chignik Bay District stays off limits. "The Chignik Bay District lagoon waters south of Humes Point will be closed," the announcement said, over the signature of Chignik Area Management Biologist Teresa Fish.

ADF&G's June season-opening advisory noted that the Chignik Chinook run has missed its biological escapement goal, the 1,300 to 2,700 fish that must reach the spawning grounds, in six of the last seven years. Escapement hit record lows of 731 fish in 2022 and 267 fish in 2023, and 1,166 in 2024. The run cleared the floor last year: 1,391 kings reached the river, the second time inside the goal range in nine years. The department imposed conservation measures by emergency order ahead of final Board of Fisheries regulations. Advisory Announcement #20 opened two districts and part of a third from Aug. 17 to Aug. 21, with three districts shut. The department's 2025 annual management report states the accumulated restrictions "have resulted in reduced fishing opportunity and harvest for Chignik permit holders and crew and have contributed to economic hardship and depopulation in the region."

Gear rules carry over: Chinook 28 inches or longer may not be retained by purse seine gear and must be released unharmed, while visibly injured or dead kings must be kept and recorded on a fish ticket, the state catch record.

Permit holders must report number and species of salmon taken to Fish, at [email protected] or 907-512-6731, before moving catch to another area, and monitor VHF Channel 6 at 9:15 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. for daily updates.