Subsistence fishing reopens on the upper Yukon, village by village

Subsistence fishing reopens on the upper Yukon over the next two weeks, village by village, after a summer of salmon closures.

Restrictions lift first for Stevens Village and Beaver on Sept. 26, then Fort Yukon, Venetie and Birch Creek on Sept. 30, and Circle and Eagle on Oct. 6. Each stretch reopens around the clock, seven days a week, with 7.5-inch or smaller mesh gillnets. All fish may be kept, and the 60-foot net limit ends.

Fish and Game staggered the dates to let Canadian-origin fall chum pass each stretch of river first. Alaska's own escapement goals should be met and Canada's treaty objectives could be, the department said, but projections for Canadian-origin fish don't leave a surplus large enough for directed fishing. Genetic sampling counted about 914,000 fall chum in the river through Sept. 7, against a median of 822,000.

The Porcupine River is the exception. Its U.S. mainstem, including Chalkyitsik, stays closed to subsistence salmon fishing through the end of the year, to protect chum bound for the Fishing Branch River in Canada. Nonsalmon fishing is allowed there with 4-inch or smaller mesh from noon Thursday to noon Sunday, or any time with gear that releases salmon alive. Tributaries including the Sheenjek, Draanjik, Coleen and Salmon Trout opened Tuesday.

Salmon fishing on this stretch of the river has been closed since mid-August. "It is the lifeblood of people on the river," Andy Bassich, who chairs the Eagle Fish and Game Advisory Committee, told the Board of Fisheries last year.

Subsistence permits are still required in the lower and upper parts of the subdistrict, and federal waters are covered by a matching action.