Section 6-D opens to unrestricted drift gillnetting Tuesday night

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will open Section 6-D to unrestricted drift gillnet fishing for about 40 hours, starting at 8:01 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, and running through noon Thursday, Aug. 13. The department issued the advisory Saturday from its Petersburg Area Office. The opening is formalized under Emergency Order 1S5526.

The opening follows the purse seine fishery, which runs in Section 6-D from 5 a.m. Monday through 8 p.m. Tuesday. Section 6-D is otherwise closed after the first Saturday in August and before the first Sunday in September, except as provided in the Section 6-D Pink Salmon Management Plan. "This regulation opens Section 6-D to the drift gillnet fishery

when the purse seine fishery is opened in that area," the department said. District 6 itself is scheduled to stay open more broadly, from 12:01 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9, through noon Thursday, Aug. 13, giving fishers a wider window to plan around the Section 6-D opening.

The timing matters most to the people who fish it. For Petersburg commercial salmon fishers, the schedule determines when they can legally work Section 6-D. A shift of even a day changes when boats, crews, buyers and processors can mobilize for a short opening. For purse seine operators, their own window sets the clock, since their access period ends before the drift gillnet opener begins.

All other times and areas announced in the Aug. 6 drift gillnet advisory remain unchanged. The opening comes without the gear limits that shaped earlier Petersburg-area fishing this summer. Alaska News previously covered a 48-hour extension in Districts 6 and 8 that carried a 6-inch maximum mesh size and area closures in District 8. Fish and Game has also reported below-average chum harvests for a sixth straight week at the Point Gardner and Kingsmill test fisheries, which have closed for the season. Statewide, the department projects a 2026 pink salmon harvest of 56 million fish, down 64.1 million from 2025.

Drift gillnet fisheries like this one draw scrutiny beyond harvest numbers. The National Marine Fisheries Service has flagged drift gillnet fishing generally as an area of conservation concern because of its potential effects on marine mammals and non-target catch. That concern applies to the gear type broadly, not to this specific opening.

Katie Taylor, Petersburg area management biologist, is the contact. She can be reached at 907-772-3801.