Sand Point salmon fishing extended 48 hours through Sunday night

Boats around Sand Point that were set to come off the grounds Friday night can keep fishing through the weekend. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game extended commercial salmon fishing by 48 hours, from 9 pm Friday to 9 pm Sunday.

Purse seine and set gillnet gear are covered in the Unimak, Southwestern and South Central districts, and in the Shumagin Islands, Beaver Bay, Balboa Bay, Southwest Stepovak, Northwest Stepovak and East Stepovak sections of the Southeastern District. Drift gillnet gear is extended only in the Unimak District and the Ikatan Bay Section of the Southwestern District, the same narrower footprint that gear group has carried through the August openings.

The extension picks up where a 61-hour period ending Friday night left off. That opening began at 8 am Wednesday and followed another 61-hour window from Aug. 12 to Aug. 14 in the same districts and sections.

Closed waters stay as written in the regulation book unless a separate emergency order moves them. King protections also hold: from June 1 through Oct. 31, S01M permit holders must release all kings 28 inches or greater unharmed, and injured or dead kings must be retained and recorded.

The advisory carries no in-season catch or escapement figures explaining the decision.

Daily announcements run on VHF channels 6 and 73 at 9:30 am and 4:30 pm.