Kodiak west side gets four more fishing days, Alitak sections one

Kodiak seiners fishing the west and north sides of the island have four more days on the water. Boats in four Alitak District sections have one.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued the split at 10 a.m. Saturday under Advisory Announcement #44 and Emergency Order 4-FS-K-44-26. The Cape Alitak, Alitak Bay, Moser Bay and Olga Bay sections get a 24-hour extension, to 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30. The Outer Karluk Section of the Southwest Kodiak District, the Central, North Cape and Inner Uganik Bay sections of the Northwest Kodiak District, and the Southwest Afognak Section get 96 hours, to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2.

Those same nine sections had moved as one group through three straight orders: 48 hours starting Aug. 24, 72 more hours from Aug. 26, then a listed closure at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29. Saturday's order is the first to pull them apart, and the announcement gives no reason for the difference.

In the same stretch, managers opened a 54-hour period in the Afognak District from noon Aug. 27 and a 78-hour period in the Inner and Outer Ugak Bay Sections from noon Aug. 28, even as the Afognak District closed at 6 p.m. Saturday with four sections already shut and Southwest Afognak held into September. The Outer Ayakulik Section, the Humpy-Deadman Section, the Eastside Kodiak District and the Northeast Kodiak District are scheduled to close at 6 p.m. Monday.

Effort is running below average: the department's Aug. 28 inseason summary counted about 120 seiners and 115 set gillnetters. The department forecast a thin year. Its December forecast said the 2026 Kodiak pink harvest "is expected to be in the Weak category with a point estimate of 12.3 million fish combining the wild stock and Kitoi Bay Hatchery harvest estimates," against an even-year escapement goal of 3.25 to 8.0 million; the forecast's 80% prediction range runs from 5.5 million to 19.0 million fish. Harvest and escapement counts that would show how the run is tracking are not in the announcements.

The standing king restriction is unchanged: Chinook 28 inches or greater may not be retained by purse seine gear and must be returned to the water unharmed. Area biologist Geoff Spalinger is at 907-486-1830; recorded fishery information, 907-486-4559.