Yukon Subdistrict 5-D subsistence fishing reopens in stages

Yukon River Subdistrict 5-D reopens in stages: restrictions lift for Stevens Village and Beaver at 8 a.m. Sept. 26, for Fort Yukon, Venetie and Birch Creek on Sept. 30, and for Circle and Eagle on Oct. 6. Each then opens to salmon and nonsalmon fishing around the clock, seven days a week, with 7.5-inch or smaller mesh gillnets and other legal gear. All fish may be kept; the 60-foot net cap ends.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game timed the steps in Emergency Order 3-S-FY-09-26 to fall chum migration, lifting restrictions only after most Canadian-origin fall chum had passed each district. The run should meet all Alaskan goals for fish left to spawn and could meet Canada treaty objectives, but Canadian-origin projections lack a harvestable surplus large enough for directed fishing. Genetic analysis put about 914,000 fall chum in the river through Sept. 7, against a 822,000 median.

The Porcupine is the exception: its U.S. mainstem, including Chalkyitsik and the Yukon around its three mouths, stays closed to subsistence salmon fishing through Dec. 31 to protect fall chum bound for the Fishing Branch River. Nonsalmon fishing there is allowed with 4-inch or smaller mesh gillnets from noon Thursdays to noon Sundays on set nets of 60 feet or less, and around the clock with gear that releases salmon alive. Tributaries including the Sheenjek, Draanjik, Coleen and Salmon Trout opened Tuesday with 6-inch or smaller mesh 500 feet above the mainstem, moving to 7.5-inch on Sept. 30.

Fall chum and coho subsistence fishing closed Aug. 10 in 5-D Lower and Middle and Aug. 15 in 5-D Upper. Andy Bassich, who chairs the Eagle Fish and Game Advisory Committee, told a Board of Fisheries Arctic/Yukon/Kuskokwim meeting on Nov. 20, 2025: "It is the lifeblood of people on the river."

Subsistence permits remain required in 5-D Lower, from two miles below Waldron Creek to the Dall River mouth, and in 5-D Upper, from above 22 Mile Slough to the U.S.-Canada border. Permits are at the ADF&G online store; those outside it can call the Fairbanks office at 907-459-7274 for a subsistence harvest calendar. A matching Federal Special Action, 03-FC-15-26, covers federal waters.