Fish board adds eight Upper Cook Inlet king stocks and Little Susitna coho to concern list

The Alaska Board of Fisheries on Wednesday designated eight more Upper Cook Inlet king salmon stocks as stocks of management concern, along with Little Susitna River coho salmon.

The new king listings are Campbell Creek, Crooked Creek, the Deshka River, the Kenai River early run and the Little Susitna, Chulitna, Talkeetna and Yentna rivers. The board approved the Department of Fish and Game's recommendations without objection.

A stock of management concern is one whose runs have repeatedly missed spawning goals despite fishing limits, according to the state. It is the middle of three levels: yield, management and conservation.

The additions bring the inlet's list of king stocks of concern to 13. Nick Dakovich, a research coordinator with the department's Division of Sport Fish, said none of the five already listed "meet delisting criteria at this time as returns continue to be poor."

Board member Mike Wood said a coho stock of concern is "unprecedented in the state" and the Little Susitna would be the first. He said he supported the listing but hoped the stock's action plan would address environmental factors, not just interception by fisheries. Earlier this year, the board restricted Cook Inlet drift gillnet fishing to protect coho, as Alaska News reported March 21.

The board also voted 5-2, against department advice, on board member Olivia Irwin's motion to list Anchor River kings as a stock of yield concern. That is the lowest tier, for a run that has not reliably produced fish to catch beyond spawning needs.

In Kodiak, the department recommended keeping Karluk and Ayakulik river kings as stocks of management concern. Just 93 kings reached the Karluk to spawn in 2025, Alaska News reported July 14.