Federal managers close Yukon, Innoko gillnets to protect Chinook and chum

Federal managers have ordered every gillnet pulled from the water across a stretch of the Yukon River and the Innoko drainage — the latest closure aimed at protecting Chinook and summer chum salmon as the kings move upriver during their peak.

For the subsistence households of Yukon Fishing District 3, that's more than a rule change. Gillnets are how families here harvest the bulk of their winter salmon, and the closure lands squarely in the short window when the fish are running. Managers say the goal is to keep weak Chinook and chum runs from being caught incidentally; an earlier order had still allowed small-mesh nets for other species, but this one clears the water entirely.

Some gear is still permitted — dip nets, beach seines, and hook-and-line for pinks, sockeye, and nonsalmon species — and any Chinook or chum caught by accident must be released alive. But that tradeoff is exactly where the tension sits. Through the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association, subsistence users have argued that repeated gillnet closures cut deeply into food security and that the allowed alternatives are slower, less effective, and not a cultural substitute for the nets their families have always used.

The District 3 closure runs through July 8 and the Innoko through July 10, unless extended. The federal schedule mirrors a state closure issued the same day.