Low water stalls Buskin River silvers at just over 500 fish

Kodiak's silver salmon are stacking up at the mouth of the Buskin River instead of moving upstream, with the weir count, the tally at the counting barrier, sitting just over 500. Tyler Polum, the Kodiak area management biologist, reported the count in the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's September 8 Kodiak fishing report and said few more fish are expected to pass until significant rain falls. He can be reached at 907-486-1879.

Pillar and Monashka Creeks are also low and warm, with silvers starting to school and incoming tides the better bet. Afognak runs appear past peak, with the lakes more productive than the river mouths. Olds and Pasagshak are the road-system exceptions, both fishing well.

The river is closed to sockeye sport fishing through December 31 after a weir count under 29 percent of the 10-year average. The biological escapement goal for Buskin coho, the spawners the river needs, is 4,700 to 9,600 fish. The 2024 count was 2,238; last year's reached 4,793, inside the goal.

Polum frames the low count as a delay rather than a loss. Kodiak commercial fishermen have argued that low, warm water can delay runs and that management should account for that rather than relying strictly on escapement counts.