Alaska Department of Fish & Game

Cook Inlet drift gillnetters drop to two days a week as the sockeye catch thins out

Cook Inlet drift gillnetters are down to Mondays and Thursdays for the season, after two openings in a row each took under 1% of the sockeye harvest.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Yukon fall salmon fishing closes at the peak of the season, not for a weak run but to meet Canada's share

Yukon fall salmon fishing closed at the peak of the season for Interior households — not for a weak run, but because Canada's treaty share has to pass first.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Upper Koyukuk and Innoko villages can keep every salmon again starting Monday

Six Koyukuk River villages and Shageluk can keep all salmon they catch starting Monday after Fish and Game confirmed local chum are a different stock than Canadian-protected fall chum.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kodiak westside, Afognak and Alitak sections get a 45-hour extension

Kodiak commercial salmon fishing extended 45 hours into Monday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m. across westside, Afognak and Alitak sections under state emergency order.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Prince William Sound seiners get 12 hours Sunday across six districts

Twelve hours, six districts, 8 am to 8 pm Sunday. Escapement finally looks good enough that Fish and Game is talking about every-other-day openings.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Three anglers cited for over-limit sockeye on the Middle Kenai River

Three anglers were cited Aug. 1 on the Middle Kenai River for keeping more sockeye salmon than the limit allowed; the excess fish were seized and donated.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

State says Kodiak landfill is out of compliance on bears and borough could be fined

Alaska says Kodiak's landfill violates wildlife rules because bears keep reaching trash, and the borough could face fines for negligently feeding them. A $250,000 fence won't solve it alone.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read

Follows: Bears are still raiding the Kodiak dump, weeks after a state plan to keep them out

In Kake, showing up means a vote on fish and game

Any voting-age Kake resident who shows up can nominate and vote at the fish and game advisory committee's Aug. 26 meeting in the subsistence-salmon village.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Two Fortymile caribou zones will close after just 48 hours

Alaska closes Fortymile caribou hunt in Zones 1 and 4 on Aug. 21, just two days after opening, expecting to fill the 190-bull quota in that window.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

ADF&G asks Kenai bull moose hunters for tissue samples within 24 hours of harvest

Alaska Fish and Game wants Kenai bull moose hunters to deliver tissue samples within 24 hours of harvest, a tight window that will force some hunters to cut their field time short.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Homer's eroded Watermelon Trail is getting rerouted to protect a salmon stream

A 1920s trail near Homer, eroded 6 feet deep and dumping sediment into a salmon stream, is finally getting rerouted. Work starts Aug. 19 and wraps in 2027.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Trail runner injured by brown bear near Anchorage's Prospect Heights trailhead

A woman running alone on Wolverine Bowl trail near Anchorage was injured by a brown bear Thursday, deployed bear spray, and walked out; she was hospitalized and the bear was not located.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Cook Inlet razor clam permit holders must file a harvest report or lose next year's permit

Cook Inlet razor clam permit holders have to file a harvest report by Dec. 31 — even if they never dug a clam — or lose eligibility for a permit next year.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Deep Inlet reopens to the commercial fleet after the hatchery takes its cut

Alaska reopened Deep Inlet to commercial salmon fishing after the state hatchery finished cost-recovery operations, ending a closure that began June 28.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Gillnetters near Ketchikan and Haines get an extra day on the water

Drift gillnetters near Ketchikan and Haines got an extra day on the water this week, with some inlets and canal waters closed off in exchange.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

King salmon fishing stays closed across the Tanana drainage

King salmon fishing stays closed across the Tanana drainage, with no change, as Yukon king runs remain at historic lows and escapement goals go unmet.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Situk River's Nine Mile Bridge stretch stays closed to all fishing through Aug. 31

Alaska Fish and Game extended the Situk River Nine Mile Bridge fishing closure to Aug. 31 after the Chinook run fell to 219 fish, less than a quarter of the forecast.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Eklutna Tailrace closes stretch to anglers 16 and older Saturday

Alaska Department of Fish and Game closes a stretch of Eklutna Tailrace to anglers 16 and older on Saturday, Aug. 15, to give kids 15 and younger a youth-only coho salmon fishery from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Kodiak's Saltery Cove anglers get their five-fish sockeye limit back after a thin July

Kodiak's Saltery Cove anglers get their five-fish sockeye limit back after a thin run recovered — though the area's subsistence closure remains in place.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Yukon fall chum and coho fishing closes as the Canadian-bound run comes in far below treaty levels

Yukon fall chum and coho fishing closes Saturday as the Canada-bound run falls far below treaty levels, deepening food-security strain for families.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Kamishak District closed to seining after survey found fewer pinks

Alaska closes the Kamishak District to commercial salmon seining Wednesday night after an aerial survey found fewer pink salmon than expected in Lower Cook Inlet.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Sheep mortality has run near triple its long-term rate in three Alaska ranges, state research finds

A GPS collar on a Dall sheep ram triggered a mortality signal, leading state biologists to a kill site showing signs of bear predation in the Alaska Range.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Sand Point fishermen get 61 hours on the water — in a fishery the rest of Alaska watches closely

Sand Point fishermen get 61 hours on the water — in an Area M fishery watched across Alaska for catching chum bound for the struggling Yukon and Kuskokwim.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Bears are still raiding the Kodiak dump, weeks after a state plan to keep them out

Bears are still raiding the Kodiak dump weeks after the state approved a plan to keep them out, because the landfill is full of fish and game waste they can't resist.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

The Situk's Rodeo Hole reopens Wednesday, the kings already gone upstream

The Situk's Rodeo Hole reopens to sport fishing Wednesday after five weeks closed, once surveys showed the king salmon had already moved upstream.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Alaska says some permits now clear in under a week — as the reforms behind that speed draw both praise and alarm

Alaska officials say some permits now clear in under a week — crediting reforms critics warn could auto-approve projects and weaken environmental review.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read

Prince William Sound's purse seine fleet stays closed, waiting on weather

Prince William Sound's seine fleet stays closed, grounded because the weather's too poor to fly the aerial surveys Fish and Game needs before it will open.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

A Petersburg-area drift gillnet fishery opens for about 40 hours

The state will open a fishing section near Petersburg to about 40 hours of unrestricted drift gillnet fishing, from Tuesday evening through Thursday noon.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

ADF&G closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday

Alaska closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday to protect coho salmon escapement into Cook Inlet streams.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Alaska Peninsula salmon fishing keeps opening and closing as managers work around sockeye returns

Alaska Peninsula salmon fishing keeps opening and closing — 20 advisories in this season — as managers work around sockeye returns near Port Moller.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

A sockeye surge doubles the Fish Creek salmon limit for a week

A strong sockeye run means Fish Creek anglers can keep six salmon a day through Aug. 15 — double the usual limit — before it drops back to three.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

The state closes Kuskokwim subsistence coho fishing as the run lags

The state closed subsistence coho fishing on the Kuskokwim River, cutting off a key food source mid-run as the coho run comes in far below average.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Lower Cook Inlet seiners are shut down while set netters keep fishing, days before the season ends

Lower Cook Inlet's purse seiners are shut down while set netters in the same district keep fishing, right as the salmon season closes out Aug. 15.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Shaktoolik and Unalakleet subsistence fishers must pull beach seines Tuesday

Shaktoolik and Unalakleet subsistence fishers must pull beach seines by Tuesday, part of Norton Sound's king salmon conservation effort. Gillnets stay open.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Upper Cook Inlet reopens to a one-king limit after a spring closure

Upper Cook Inlet anglers north of Bluff Point can keep one king salmon from Aug. 16 through Sept. 15, after a closure meant to protect declining king stocks.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Kotzebue chum fishermen get a better price but have just one buyer left

Kotzebue chum fishermen are getting nearly 20 cents more a pound this season, but with only one registered buyer left, their market now hinges on a single company.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Troopers cite three anglers for keeping snagged sockeye on the Kenai

Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited three anglers on the Kenai River in late July for keeping snagged sockeye salmon, seizing four fish total that went to charity.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read

Alaska moves to cut white-fronted goose limits again as the Y-K Delta population falls

Alaska wants to cut white-fronted goose limits in Unit 18 again as the Y-K Delta population falls, the second reduction in recent years. Comment is open through Aug. 16.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Yukon salmon conservation rules are now locked into state regulation, not left to managers' discretion

Yukon salmon conservation is now binding state regulation — fixed thresholds that keep the river's own commercial and much subsistence fishing closed.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Prince William Sound stays at one king a day through Sept. 15

Prince William Sound's king limit stays at one fish a day through Sept. 15, four harbors excepted, right as kings start showing up near Glacier Island and Pigot Bay.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read