Good news for the Yukon River: a slug of chum salmon swam up the Yukon last week, and it looks as if there will be enough fish to meet the lower-end escapement goal of 500,000 fish. If enough chums keep swimming into the river, managers say that there may be a commercial harvest.
Kings are also continuing to enter the Yukon River in about the same numbers as last summer. Managers are authorizing two 18-hour subsistence fishing opportunities in Districts 1, 2, and 3.
The schedule in District 1 is an 18-hour subsistence salmon fishing opening beginning Tuesday at 2 p.m. and closing Wednesday at 8 a.m. That will be followed by another opening Friday at 2 p.m., which closes Saturday morning at 8 a.m. The first of these openings will begin this Tuesday, July 2 at 2 p.m.
The openings in Districts 2 and 3 are scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. and will close Thursday at 8 a.m. That will be followed by a Saturday opening at 2 p.m., closing Sunday at 8 a.m. The first of these openings will begin Wednesday, July 3.
Managers have cancelled the closure previously announced for subsistence fishing in the South Coastal District that includes Hooper Bay and Scammon Bay. Subsistence fishing there can remain open 24/7. The same is true in the Innoko River near Shageluk, where subsistence will remain open 24/7.
During subsistence salmon fishing closures, fishing for non-salmon species is allowed. However, gillnet mesh must be 4-inch or smaller.