Hunting & Fishing

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Subsistence Regional Advisory Council will meet next week to discuss proposals affecting the Yukon and Kuskokwim River salmon fisheries.

High water levels made it difficult for federal and state managers to count salmon all across the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta this year, which can have real effects on salmon management in the area. Aaron Webber, a fish biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says that high waters can bring more uncertainty to a job that already has plenty of it.

The state managed permit moose-hunting season in the portion of Unit 18 on the lower Kuskokwim was closed to moose hunting as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, September 5. The federally managed side of the season is still open.

The state managed permit moose-hunting season in the portion of Unit 18 on the lower Kuskokwim will close to moose hunting effective 11:59 pm Monday.

At the last Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group meeting of the year, managers and other members from the Delta found themselves with no action items, but plenty about this year's salmon season to reflect on. 

There are more geese and ducks on the tundra this year, and hunters will get an extra shot at them.

Starting September 1, bag limits for three waterfowl species will go up as the state takes over for federal managers.

Wednesday is the final day to get free fish from the big green bin by the mouth of Brown Slough. Since July the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has loaded the bin with salmon and whitefish from the Bethel test fishery for community members to take home. The fishery is used to estimate the number of fish running up the Kuskokwim past Bethel, and Wednesday is the final day that it will operate this season. ADF&G has provided 6,226 fish from the test site to the Kuskokwim River communities this summer.

Proposals to change federal subsistence management are under discussion across the state.