This season, the state of Alaska offered permits to harvest king salmon in the middle and upper Kuskokwim River during fishing closures. This was the first year the permits have been available, and they allow each household to harvest a total of 10 kings for the length of the closures. On Tuesday at 1 p.m., that permit fishery ended.
The previous day, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game had opened the state waters of the Kuskokwim River 24/7 to gillnets and had left only a small section of river closed. That section runs from the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge boundary at Aniak, upstream to the tip of the island in front of the Aniak River.
This closed area is meant to protect the king salmon heading into the Aniak River to spawn. Ending the permit fishery shuts down all king salmon harvests in this closed area.