The Chitina dipnet fishery opens for a full week starting July 20 as salmon counts finally hit targets. King salmon remain off-limits.

Alaska Fish and Game cut the Chitina dip net season to 96 hours next week because the Copper River salmon run is running 30,600 fish behind schedule and sockeye escapement goals are at risk.

Alaska closed Upper Copper River king salmon sport fishing and barred Chitina dipnetters from keeping any kings this season due to a weak forecast of 33,000 fish, 27% below the 10-year average.

Three fishers cited at Chitina dipnet fishery during July 4 weekend opening; one Fairbanks man faces mandatory court for retaining a king salmon in violation of emergency order.
Copper River commercial salmon fishing stays closed through at least Saturday as Chinook counts track weak, though subsistence fishers get a 12-hour window Thursday morning.

Alaska closes all Upper Copper River king salmon sport fishing from July 10 through August 10 after the lowest run count on record threatens the escapement goal.

Copper River salmon are running weak, so kings are now off-limits in Upper Copper sport fishing from July 6, and the Chitina dipnet closes July 6–12.

Record and clip each salmon before it goes in your cooler, or risk a summons like the Wasilla man cited at Kasilof on June 27.

Chitina dipnet fishery opens for a full week starting Monday, June 15, despite sonar counts running about 5,600 salmon below projection for early June.
The Copper River's king run is the worst on record, so Alaska is cutting anglers from four fish to one — betting this summer's catch against next year's spawn.

Alaska opened the Chitina dipnet fishery for 60 hours starting Friday despite the Copper River salmon run running 55 percent below target for early June, with subsistence fishers already reporting low catches upstream.

NOAA found Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon do not warrant endangered-species protection, a decision hatchery operators cite as validation of their management but that critics say masks weaker local populations.

Dip netters stranded on a Copper River sandbar near Chitina self-rescued Friday before troopers arrived.

A plane tipped and sustained minor damage on a Copper River sandbar Friday evening after landing near the mouth of the Kotsina River to check a fishwheel, Alaska State Troopers reported. No injuries were reported and the occupants said they did not want or need assistance.

The Copper River is running its worst sockeye return in 40 years — so bad Alaska closed the popular Chitina dipnet fishery, even with no commercial boats fishing the river.


