Southeast Alaska winter troll fishery opens Oct. 11 under 45,000-fish cap on non-Alaska hatchery Chinook

Southeast Alaska and Yakutat commercial trollers can start fishing winter Chinook at 12:01 am Sunday, Oct. 11, and keep fishing through March 15, 2027, or until the fleet lands 45,000 non-Alaska hatchery-produced Chinook, whichever comes first. Kings from Alaska hatcheries do not count toward that cap. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announcement, issued Oct. 2, also keeps five stretches of inside water closed, including Gastineau Channel and Berners Bay, "to conserve wild Southeast Alaska/Yakutat Chinook salmon stocks."

The other closed areas are part of Behm Canal in District 1, waters west of the Stikine River around Mitkof Island in District 8, and Section 15-A north of Sherman Rock, the last closed by emergency order only through Dec. 31, 2026.

At its 2025 meeting in Ketchikan, the Alaska Board of Fisheries directed the department to use emergency-order authority to protect wild Southeast and Transboundary River Chinook while still finding a compatible harvest. Under that direction, the department found wild fish remained a low share of the catch on the outer coast and extended last winter's fishery through April 15, 2026, in select outer coastal waters. The department will use fishery data gathered this winter to decide whether to add time after March 15, 2027; any extension will come in a later announcement. The department's management plan for the 2025-2026 season puts the 2024-2025 winter harvest at 31,518 Chinook, with 262 permits fished, against 48,117 in 2023-2024, when the winter allocation was fully harvested.

The Anita Bay and Nakat Inlet terminal harvest areas stay open to troll gear through Nov. 10 and then become regular winter troll waters. Trollers must offload all summer-caught salmon before fishing winter. Fish tickets are due at the nearest department office within seven days of offloading, or can be mailed to troll staff in Sitka, and must list a five-digit statistical area for salmon, a six-digit area for groundfish bycatch, start and end dates fished, and the landing date.

The 2026-2027 management plan will be posted on the department's winter troll page. Grant Hagerman, the Region I commercial troll management biologist, is the Sitka contact at 907-747-6688.