There will be no gillnet fishing opening this week coming from Kuskokwim tribal and federal fishery managers for the lower river. The Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission issued the statement on Facebook.
Managers want to wait for more information on chum and king salmon numbers before opening more harvest. The group will meet with federal managers on June 25 to consider a future opening. “We'll be looking for indications that having an opener will not jeopardize salmon escapement or the future of subsistence," Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge Manager Boyd Blihovde wrote in an email.
This year's chum and king salmon numbers are low. Bethel Test Fishery data stretches back to 1984, and this year’s chum run is the lowest on record since that count began. This year's king run is lower than 60% of years since then.
Harvest data from the most recent fishing opening on June 19 in the lower river reflects this decline. Orutsararmiut Native Council, the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collected the data. They estimated that the total number of salmon caught was about 9,580, about 6,190 being kings. Less than 1,000 chums were caught, and an estimated 2,500 sockeye were caught as well. Read the full harvest summary here.
On June 23, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will be hosting a Kuskokwim Salmon Management Working Group meeting to review the salmon data collected during this month's openings and throughout the season. You can attend the meeting in person at the Bethel Fish and Game office, or call-in at 1-800-315-6338 (MEET), then code 58756# (KUSKO#).