Chitina dip net fishery closes July 6–12 as salmon count hits 40-year low

Salmon counts at Miles Lake have hit their lowest cumulative total in four decades, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is closing the Chitina Subdistrict personal use dip net fishery from July 6 through July 12 in response.

As of June 28, only 317,769 salmon had passed Miles Lake, roughly 84,000 fish below the preseason projection and 21 percent short of where the run should be. Daily sonar passage has been below the daily management objective for all but eight days this season, and the deficit persisted even with no commercial fishing in the Copper River District for the prior two weeks; passage fell below anticipated levels for five of the seven days from June 22 through June 28.

What Comes Next

The closure is managed under the Copper River Personal Use Dip Net Salmon Fishery Management Plan (5 AAC 77.591), which directs ADF&G to establish weekly fishing periods based on Miles Lake sonar counts. ADF&G said "closure of the Chitina Subdistrict personal use salmon dip net fishery for the week of July 6 – 12 is necessary to reduce harvest and increase the likelihood of achieving the Copper River sockeye salmon escapement goal."

"The department will continue to evaluate inseason run strength and will reopen the personal use fishery if sonar counts improve and adequate numbers of salmon become available to allow for additional harvest," ADF&G said. Alaska resident personal use dip net fishers who rely on the Chitina fishery for household food supply will be watching sonar counts closely in the coming days to see whether conditions support a reopening.