Fishing restrictions are loosening along the Kuskokwim River. Beginning Monday, June 22, subsistence users can use any size mesh along the river’s mainstem, and those nets can stretch a maximum of 50 fathoms in length. The closed waters around the mouth of the Aniak River will also open on Monday.
Subsistence fishing in salmon spawning Kuskokwim tributaries will remain closed to gillnets until August 31. Those tributaries are the Kwethluk River to its confluence with Kuskokuak Slough, the Kasigluk River and Kisaralik River to their confluences with Old Kuskokuak Slough, the Tuluksak River, and the Aniak River.
Subsistence fishing for king salmon with hook and line will remain closed until August 31 in the following tributaries: Kwethluk, Kisaralik, Kasigluk, Tuluksak, and Aniak River drainages. Any kings caught in these waterways must be returned to the water alive.
Also on Monday, commercial fishing is opening in the lower Kuskokwim River. There is no fish processor on the river, so the opportunity is reserved for registered catcher/sellers. There will be five 8-hour commercial periods this month with 6-inch or less mesh gillnets that may not exceed 50 fathoms in length or 45 meshes in depth.
