Visiting anglers get an extra king salmon in Southeast this fall

Visiting anglers in Southeast Alaska get to take home an extra king salmon this fall. Starting Aug. 1, nonresidents can keep four kings for the year instead of three, through the end of September.

The change comes because anglers haven't caught as many kings as expected. Southeast's sport fishery is managed to stay under a regional cap of 43,600 king salmon, and with the harvest running low, Fish and Game has room to ease the limits. It's the second increase this season — a change in July raised the nonresident daily limit to two fish.

The daily limit stays at two, for kings 28 inches or longer, and any a nonresident kept earlier this year count toward the new four-fish cap. Alaska residents, by contrast, keep three a day with no annual limit.

The same low harvest that loosened the rules could tighten them again. Fish and Game says it will keep watching the catch, and more changes could follow.