Copper River coho periods stretch to 36 hours next week

Copper River gillnetters get longer openings next week, 36 hours each starting Monday and Thursday, up from the 24-hour periods they've been fishing this month.

The department didn't say why. Its announcement reports that the latest delta survey counted 40,780 coho, above the top of the range the department expected, and leaves it there. When it shortened the openings in late August, it explained itself, saying it was closing to let more fish reach the spawning grounds after counts fell below target. The longer periods now presumably reflect the counts coming back up, but the department hasn't said so.

The neighboring Bering River District, whose count landed within its expected range, gets matching 36-hour openings on the same two days. Last week's 24-hour period brought in 12,300 coho on the Copper River side and 2,550 on the Bering River side.

The waters north of the closure line at Little Softuk, including the sloughs and Boswell Bay, stay closed to commercial and subsistence salmon fishing.

The longer openings come at the end of a hard season on the river. The Miles Lake sonar recorded the lowest cumulative salmon count for late June in 40 years, and the Chitina personal-use dipnet fishery was closed for a week in July and limited through August. The department's standard approach for coho is one or two 24-hour openings a week, adjusted to escapement and harvest.