Alaska closes District 4 subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho starting Wednesday

Subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho salmon closes across District 4 communities in the Lower Yukon Area starting Wednesday, as state managers say the 2026 fall chum run is projected well below average and insufficient to meet Canadian treaty obligations even under the best-case projection. The 2026 coho salmon run is also projected to be below average.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued Emergency Order 3-S-FY-02-26 on Monday, covering District 4 communities from Grayling and Anvik in the lower stretch up through Galena, Ruby, and the Koyukuk River drainage villages including Kaltag, Nulato, Huslia, Hughes, Allakaket, Alatna, Wiseman, and Bettles. The closures roll out by subdistrict as the fall chum migration moves upriver, starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday in the lower subdistrict, reaching the Koyukuk drainage Sunday, July 26, and the upper subdistricts on July 29.

The preseason projection puts the run likely above 400,000 fish, within the drainagewide escapement goal of 300,000 to 600,000. But ADF&G said Canadian treaty goals are still not anticipated to be met at that level, making directed subsistence fishing on the mainstem "highly unlikely to occur." The Board of Fisheries had already designated fall chum as a Stock of Management Concern and moved the start of fall management three days earlier than normal. After the closures take effect, Chinook, chum, and coho salmon must be released alive immediately from selective gear types.

What Fishing Continues

Some nonsalmon fishing continues with restrictions. Small-mesh gillnets of 4 inches or less are limited districtwide to Thursday noon through Sunday noon each week. Gillnets of 6-inch or smaller mesh are permitted only in designated tributaries, sloughs, and lakes identified in the notice, with a closure buffer from the mouth to 500 feet upstream of each open waterway. ADF&G said those areas were identified using local knowledge shared with management agencies and by using the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Anadromous Waters Catalog. Fishers on the Koyukuk River above Bettles, including the community of Wiseman, must hold a subsistence fishing permit, and gillnet gear in that permit area is restricted to 3½-inch or smaller mesh.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a parallel federal special action applying the same schedule to waters adjacent to federal land. For state questions, Area Management Biologist Matt Olson is available at 907-949-1320 in Emmonak or 907-459-7274 in Fairbanks. ADF&G posts in-season updates at adfg.alaska.gov/yukonfishcounts.