Chitina dipnet fishery opens four 48-hour weekends in August, no kings

Alaska residents who fill a freezer at Chitina have four chances left this month, each one 48 hours long, and none of them include a king salmon. Emergency Order 3-RS-I-21-26 opens the Chitina Subdistrict personal use dip net fishery from noon Friday to noon Sunday on Aug. 7-9, Aug. 14-16, Aug. 21-23 and Aug. 28-30. King salmon retention is prohibited for the remainder of the season, and any king caught incidentally in Upper Copper River sport fisheries must be released immediately.

Tracy Hansen, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game area management biologist in Glennallen, said in the Aug. 6 Upper Copper/Upper Susitna fishing report that the Miles Lake sonar counts "ended on July 28 with a below average run size this year," and that the king salmon run to the Copper River is also weak. Sockeye fishing remains open across the Upper Copper drainage; the entire drainage stays closed to king salmon sport fishing, with no bait allowed and single-hook artificial lures required in flowing water.

The August schedule closes out a season managed week to week. Alaska News previously covered the July 6-12 closure, which followed a Miles Lake count that stood, as of June 28, as the lowest cumulative total on record for that date in 40 years; a 96-hour opening July 16-19; a full 168-hour week starting July 20, when counts topped projections; and a 48-hour window July 31 to Aug. 2. For dipnetting households, the short openings and the retention ban set trip timing and fuel costs and cap how much fish can go away for winter.

Permits cost $15, one per household, with a limit of 25 salmon for the permit holder plus 10 for each additional member. Permits and licenses are available online and through ADF&G offices and vendors in Anchorage, Fairbanks and local communities. Chitina permit holders must report their harvest online by Oct. 15 even if they did not fish or catch any salmon; failing to report makes a household ineligible for a permit the following year. Separately, Upper Copper king salmon sport permits must be reported online by Aug. 31, again whether or not the holder fished. The Chitina schedule line is (907) 822-5224.