Subsistence
RSSAlaska News covers subsistence hunting and fishing regulations, seasonal closures, and harvest management across Alaska's rivers and regions.
Kake advisory committee holds elections Aug. 26 and takes up 2027-2028 fisheries proposals
Kake's fish and game advisory committee holds elections and reviews 2027-28 fisheries proposals on Aug. 26 at 3:30 p.m. at the Organized Village of Kake Office.
by Walter AlaskaNews2h ago1 min readAI
Kenai dipnet season closes after another strong sockeye run
The Kenai River personal use dipnet fishery closed for 2026 after a late-run sockeye return near 3 million, again clearing Fish and Game's escapement goals. Kasilof stays open through Aug. 7.
by Bill AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
Want to spear whitefish by lantern light? The permit deadline is Friday
Alaska households have until Friday to enter the lottery for 400 permits to spear whitefish by lantern light on the Chatanika River this fall.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair days before a bycatch-shaped election
Days before the final vote, the Bering Sea pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair — as salmon bycatch, and a new mandatory chum cap, roil the 2026 campaign.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago3 min readAI
Yukon District 6 subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho closes Saturday
ADF&G Emergency Order 3-S-FY-04-26 closes subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho salmon in Yukon River District 6 at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 15. Nonsalmon gillnet fishing with 4-inch or smaller mesh reopens on a Thursday noon to Sunday noon weekly schedule.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3d ago2 min readAI
The state ordered Cook Inlet setnetters onto gear their permits don't allow
Alaska ordered Cook Inlet setnetters onto gear their permits don't allow, deepening a years-long squeeze on a fishery it controls in state waters.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
Kuskokwim coho fishing slow in early August as Bethel sonar counts run low
Coho fishing on the lower Kuskokwim has been very slow in early August amid high water and low Bethel sonar counts, though escapement should still be met.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Chatanika River whitefish spear lottery opens July 27
Everyone loves the lottery - this one for Fish
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
Four dipnet openings left at Chitina in August
Chitina dipnetters have four 48-hour openings left in August and can't keep any kings, after a below-average sockeye run and a weak Copper River king return.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
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 AlaskaNews6d ago1 min readAI
AFN gathers Dillingham voices on the future of subsistence
AFN holds a four-hour listening session in Dillingham on Aug. 12 to gather subsistence harvesters' input on how Alaska's subsistence future should be managed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Kuskokwim Bay subsistence fishing closes so commercial boats can fish
Kuskokwim Bay subsistence fishing closes Monday through Friday so the same waters can open to commercial fishing — the latest such swap this month.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
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 AlaskaNews6d ago2 min readAI
Chitina dipnet fishery opens full 168 hours July 20–26 as salmon surplus builds
The Chitina dipnet fishery opens for a full week starting July 20 as salmon counts finally hit targets. King salmon remain off-limits.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
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 AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Kuskokwim mainstem reopens early as six spawning tributaries stay closed to Chinook and chum
Strong sonar counts returned the Kuskokwim mainstem to state management July 13, but six spawning tributaries stay closed to Chinook and chum through July 31.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
Nine years of one-year permits in the waters where the North Slope hunts
Federal regulators are weighing a ninth straight one-year permit letting Navy research disturb whales and seals in the Beaufort and Chukchi — the waters where North Slope communities hunt.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
More than 200 Alaska watersheds have turned orange
Uh-ohh. More than 200 Brooks Range watersheds have turned orange in a decade as thawing permafrost releases iron and metals — rusting rivers that villages drink from and fish.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Yukon fall salmon subsistence fishing closes as the run falls short
Fall chum and coho subsistence fishing is closing across the upper Yukon as the run falls short, the last in a season of closures that moved steadily up the river.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Yukon summer chum run tops 900,000 projection, opening subsistence windows across drainage
Summer chum salmon run on the Yukon River is tracking above 900,000 fish, more than double the spring forecast, opening subsistence harvest windows across most of the drainage through late July.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Alaska closes District 4 subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho starting Wednesday
Alaska closes subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho salmon in District 4 starting Wednesday because the 2026 run is projected too weak to meet Canadian treaty obligations.
by Alaska News3w ago2 min readAI
Nalukataq season carries Alaska whaling traditions into summer
Nalukataq celebrations honoring bowhead whale hunts move across five northern Alaska communities from mid-June through early July, distributing whale meat and muktuk to mark the tradition.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Kuskokwim subsistence fishing reopens as salmon run strong
Subsistence fishing is back open on the lower Kuskokwim as salmon run strong — and the state is managing the mainstem again after losing a long fight over who controls the river.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Chitina's dipnet window shrinks to 48 hours as sockeye falter
Chitina dipnetters get 48 hours next weekend, half the window two weeks ago, after last week's sockeye count came in 26,000 fish short.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
Federal migratory bird subsistence rules take effect across Alaska
Alaska's spring subsistence bird harvest is older than the U.S. — and a 1916 treaty effectively banned it until 1997. This week's update continues a hunt Native communities never gave up.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Weak sockeye run tightens fishing at Saltery Creek, twice in two days
A no-show sockeye run at Kodiak's Saltery Creek closes extra subsistence waters and cuts the sport limit from five fish to two, two restrictions in two days.
by Alaska News2w ago1 min readAI
Kreiss-Tomkins documents $20 milk, absent law enforcement in 11 Yukon River villages
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins documented $20 milk, $12 gas, scarce law enforcement, and collapsed salmon runs across 11 Yukon River villages in a four-day boat tour.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
Nushagak king salmon run on pace for near-record low season
Nushagak king salmon run is on pace for one of its weakest seasons since 1980, triggering a subsistence closure and forcing commercial fishermen to sell or donate all kings starting July 12.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A small gold permit, on a river fighting for its future
A routine gold-mining permit on a Susitna tributary is a small piece of a much bigger fight over a salmon river conservationists just named one of America's most endangered.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Commercial fishing opens in Kuskokwim Bay as subsistence fishing closes
Commercial fishing opened in Kuskokwim Bay's Districts 4 and 5 through July 17, with subsistence fishing closed until the 18th — a real trade-off in a region built on salmon.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Copper River stays closed to commercial fishing as Chinook run tracks weak
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews4w ago1 min readAI
Sullivan's Bycatch Bill Wades Into Alaska's Hardest Fish Fight
Sullivan's sweeping bycatch bill targets trawl salmon catch — a real and raw grievance, even as federal science pins Alaska's river collapses mostly on a warming ocean.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readAI
Yukon River District 4 opens for summer chum; Chinook closures hold
Yukon River District 4 opens summer chum harvest July 2 through late July, but all Chinook must be released alive under a rebuilding agreement that closes Chinook fisheries through 2030.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readAI
Kodiak conservation district seeks permit to spray glyphosate in Buskin watershed
Plant plant go away come get another day. Or, you don't have to.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
No Juneau beach is tested for the toxin in clams
No Juneau-area beach is regularly tested for the toxin in clams that can stop your breathing — and cooking does not destroy it.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
Chisana caribou subsistence hunt opens Aug. 10 with six-bull quota
Federal subsistence permits for Chisana caribou opened July 20, with hunting August 10 through September 30 or until six bulls are taken, limited to residents of five named Unit 12 communities.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
On one of the world's great king rivers, a 'poor' rating is partly the plan
Fish go bye bye? Oh no0ooo
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Western Alaska leaders take food security to a circumpolar assembly
Western Alaska tribal leaders are in Nunavut for the first circumpolar Inuit assembly in nearly a decade, with food security high on the agenda.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
Weak kings, strong chum: the Yukon's salmon rules split by the run
On the Yukon this week: kings are weak so restrictions continue, summer chum is strong so openings arrive, and fall chum has slipped enough to close the Lower Yukon early.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Yukon District 4 federal waters open to summer chum subsistence with selective gear only
Federal and state managers opened Yukon District 4 and Koyukuk River to summer chum subsistence harvest with selective gear only, banning gillnets to protect Chinook salmon through late July.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
