U.S. Fish and Wildlife has announced an opening for chinook and chum salmon for federally qualified subsistence users beginning at noon Tuesday June 21.
The openings are split into two sections and last for different lengths of time.
There’s a 72-hour opening from noon Tuesday to noon Friday on the Kuskokwim River and its tributaries. The opening spans the mouth of the Kuskokwim to downstream of Kalskag at the south edge Uknavik Slough.
Fishers may use set and drift gillnets with six-inch or less stretched mesh, not exceeding 45 meshes in depth.
Nets cannot exceed 300 feet in length from the Kuskokwim mouth to the Johnson River mouth. Nets cannot exceed 150 feet in length from the Johnson River mouth to downstream of Kalskag at the south edge of Uknavik Slough.
The other opening starts at noon Tuesday and lasts until further notice. It’s for the main channel of the Kuskokwim River and its salmon tributaries from downstream of Kalskag at the south edge of Uknavik Slough and then east of the bluff line to the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge boundary at Aniak.
Set and drift gillnets must be six-inch stretched mesh or less and may not exceed 45 meshes in depth. Gillnets may not exceed 150 feet in length.
Some tributaries remain closed including the Eek, Kwethluk, Kasigluk, Kisaralik, Tuluksak and Aniak.
