Copper River stays closed to commercial fishing as sockeye run under forecast

The Copper River District remains closed to commercial fishing; the only announced opening is a 12-hour subsistence period starting 7 a.m. Monday, with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's next call expected Wednesday.

Miles Lake sonar counted 564,140 fish through Thursday, about 18,000 behind historical timing. Sockeye are tracking under forecast, the department said, though the inriver goal remains likely to be met; Chinook are trending toward the lower end of the escapement goal. The season's commercial harvest stands at 4,250 Chinook and 243,000 sockeye.

The department classified this run as weak back in March — a 33,000-fish Chinook forecast, 27 percent below the recent 10-year average.

"And just like that, sockeye season comes to a close for sleepy bay. In one of the lowest recorded salmon returns in my lifetime," a commercial fisherman posting as @sleepybaysalmon wrote on Bluesky, adding, "We will have limited Prince William sound sockeye this year and no copper river sockeye."

Across Prince William Sound, the Coghill River weir passed 6,877 sockeye through July 23 against 19,446 anticipated, and the Valdez Fisheries Development Association has paused pink salmon cost recovery to build broodstock.