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

The Alaska Board of Fisheries on Wednesday added eight more Upper Cook Inlet king salmon runs to its list of stocks of management concern, the state's label for runs that keep missing their spawning goals even with fishing limits in place.

That puts 13 Upper Cook Inlet king runs on the list. None of the five already there is ready to come off, because "returns continue to be poor," said Nick Dakovich, a research coordinator with the Department of Fish and Game.

The new ones are Campbell Creek in Anchorage, Crooked Creek and the Kenai River's early run, along with the Deshka, Little Susitna, Chulitna, Talkeetna and Yentna rivers. The board approved the department's recommendations without objection.

The board also listed Little Susitna River coho, which have come in below their spawning goal in three of the past five years. Board member Mike Wood said it's the first coho run in the state to make the list.

Wood supported the listing but said the plan for the run has to address more than fishing. The Little Susitna comes out of Hatcher Pass, he said, and "drains everybody's backyard now." In March, the board cut back Cook Inlet drift gillnet fishing to protect northern Cook Inlet coho.

On the southern Kenai Peninsula, the board listed Ninilchik River kings, which have missed their spawning goal in four of the past five years.

It went further than the department on the nearby Anchor River. On a 5-2 vote, the board listed Anchor River kings as a stock of yield concern, a lower tier for runs that aren't reliably producing fish to catch beyond what's needed to spawn. The department hadn't recommended it. Board member Olivia Irwin, who made the motion, said the run would have missed its goal in recent years if the department hadn't revised that goal in 2024. Wood and board member Tom Carpenter voted no.

In Kodiak, the board kept Karluk and Ayakulik river kings on the list. Just 93 kings made it up the Karluk to spawn in 2025, against a goal of at least 3,000.

The board takes up Kodiak fishing rules in January, when it will review plans for the Karluk and Ayakulik kings, and Upper Cook Inlet rules in March.