Subsistence coho fishing closes on the middle and upper Kuskokwim

Subsistence coho fishing closes at 5 pm Friday for Chuathbaluk, Crooked Creek, Georgetown, Red Devil and Sleetmute, and a week later for Stony River, McGrath, Nikolai and Takotna, under an emergency order the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued Thursday.

The first closure runs through 5 pm Aug. 28, the second from that hour through 5 pm Sept. 4. Gillnets are shut in all flowing waters of both sections and their tributaries. Fishwheels, beach seines, dipnets and hook and line stay legal for whitefish, sheefish, pike and non-coho salmon, but any coho caught must go back in the water alive.

Cumulative coho passage at the Kuskokwim River sonar was roughly 156,000 fish as of Aug. 19, against an average near 233,000 for that date. At the Kogrukluk weir, 112 coho had been counted as of Aug. 16, against a sustainable escapement goal of 13,000 to 28,000.

The Alaska Board of Fisheries sets the amount necessary for subsistence at 27,400 to 57,600 coho. "It is unlikely that harvest will meet ANS this year," the department said, adding that reducing subsistence harvest is warranted to reach the escapement goal and sustain future runs.

Alaska News previously covered the Aug. 7 order shutting subsistence coho fishing in Sections 1 through 3, when sonar showed about 43,000 fish against an average near 106,500. Federal managers followed Aug. 12, when the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge closed federal public waters to gillnets and coho retention through Sept. 15, including for federally qualified subsistence users. Refuge Manager Spencer Rearden said this year's run is tracking similar to 2022, the lowest return in more than two decades.

State restrictions now cover Sections 1 through 5. The federal action applies separately in federal public waters.

The Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group meets Wednesday at 10 am in Bethel and by teleconference. Fish and Game says restrictions may be liberalized if abundance climbs.