District 11 drift gillnet fishery open near Juneau through noon Wednesday

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has opened District 11's Section 11-B north of Circle Point to drift gillnetting from 12:01 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, through noon Wednesday, Aug. 19, under Emergency Order 1S6126. Port Snettisham remains closed east of a line from Point Styleman to Point Anmer, and no mesh restriction applies during this opening.

The opener is the latest in a string of extensions this summer. Juneau Area Management Biologist Scott Forbes announced earlier openings on June 22 (24 hours, maximum 6-inch mesh, with Taku Inlet closed north of Jaw Point), July 7 (24 hours south of Circle Point), July 14 (48 hours) and July 29 (24 hours). The section closed at noon on July 24 under Emergency Order 1S4226, which kept the Limestone Inlet and Port Snettisham closures in place along with a 6-inch minimum mesh south of Circle Point.

The 2026 Southeast Alaska drift gillnet management plan bars directed Chinook fisheries in Districts 6, 8, 11 and 15 because of low Chinook abundance. Fishermen may still retain and sell Chinook caught incidentally in the drift gillnet fishery.

Upriver, federal managers are running the Taku River subsistence salmon fishery under an emergency special action in effect from June 12 through Oct. 31. It limits set gillnets to 15 fathoms, bars them within 100 yards of the Canyon Island fish wheels and requires permit holders to be present at the net. The action states it is "necessary to ensure the conservation of subsistence resources and continuation of subsistence uses on the Taku River."

Neither the District 11 drift gillnet fleet nor Taku River subsistence users could be reached for this article.