Resident king salmon limit near Petersburg is three a day in state waters

Alaska residents fishing out of Petersburg can keep three king salmon a day, with a matching possession limit and no annual cap, in state waters, under regional Emergency Order 1-KS-R-24-26, effective Aug. 1 through Sept. 30. Nonresidents are held to a two-fish daily bag and possession limit and an annual limit of four. Beyond three miles, in the exclusive economic zone, residents fish under the nonresident numbers too. Every retained king must measure 28 inches or greater, and anglers without a king salmon stamp must release the fish immediately, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Petersburg fishing report issued Thursday.

What anglers are actually catching is a different question. King salmon are "few and far between at this time of summer, but can be caught while trolling for coho," Petersburg/Wrangell Area Management Biologist Jeff Rice wrote in the report. Any king landed now is almost certainly a feeder king: "These kings pass through our area during their ocean phase and are not this season's spawner kings, which have already headed upriver," Rice wrote.

The July 31 action follows a summer of local liberalizations, and the department raised the nonresident annual limit from three to four because harvest came in lower than anticipated against a regionwide sport target of 43,600 kings. ADF&G's July 18 expansion of harvest at the Blind Slough/Wrangell Narrows Terminal Harvest Area came after the Crystal Lake Hatchery return exceeded its 2,300-fish projection and three completed broodstock collections lifted the conservation constraint. That order, 01-KS-C-23-26, opened previously closed waters, raised bag and possession limits and removed the nonresident annual limit inside the terminal area.

The department's own Petersburg guidance states that the vast majority of area marine waters remain closed to king retention, with opportunity concentrated where hatchery fish return. Near Petersburg that place is the Blind Slough/Wrangell Narrows terminal harvest area. The July 31 order leaves untouched the special regulations protecting wild king stocks in Seymour Canal and the Ketchikan Area. ADF&G's Southeast regulations carry a standing notice that emergency orders always supersede the published booklet.

Creel samplers wrap up for the season this week. Rice can be reached at (907) 772-5227.