ADF&G management takes huge bite out of Mat-Su coho runs

On July 20, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued emergency order 2S-18-12 (http://tinyurl.com/bpd6mco) that allowed commercial drift gillnetting in a huge area of Upper Cook Inlet beyond the implied limits written in the Central District Drift Gillnet Fishery Management Plan.

In addition, the fishing period allowed by this emergency order was extended from the standard 12 hours to 14 hours. According to retired ADF&G sport fishery biologist, Larry Engel, “This opening could hardly have come at a worse time for its impact on coho salmon migrating through the Area 1 and headed for Mat-Su Valley Streams.”

Following are the guiding principles written into the plan itself.

The purpose of this management plan is to ensure adequate escapement of salmon into the Northern District drainages and to provide management guidelines to the department. The department shall manage the commercial drift gillnet fishery to minimize the harvest of Northern District and Kenai River coho salmon in order to provide sport and guided sport fishermen a reasonable opportunity to harvest these salmon stocks over the entire run, as measured by the frequency of in-river restrictions.

By this action, ADF&G once again prioritized harvesting abundant Kenai and Kasilof River sockeye salmon stocks above meeting minimum escapement levels for Northern District/Mat-Su salmon stocks and allowing a reasonable opportunity for sport harvest of coho salmon as outlined by the plan. It is interesting to note that in emergency order 2S-18-12, the department makes no mention to how Northern District salmon escapements fare when additional drift gillnetting is allowed in the middle of Cook Inlet.

It is also interesting that the department did not mention it had failed to meet the Little Susitna River coho salmon escapement goal for the past three years, and that if it fails to meet that goal again this year, then the Little Susitna River coho stock would qualify for Stock of Concern status. Presently designated, Stock of Concern sockeye salmon headed for the Susitna/Yentna River drainage were also harvested last Saturday during this expanded commercial fishery opening. By this action, the department shows disregard for any Northern District/Mat-Su Stock of Concern or potential Stock of Concern.

Part of the reason ADF&G may have felt justified in allowing additional fishing on Northern-bound salmon was that the department had closed the commercial set net fishing along the Kenai Peninsula beaches in an effort to come closer to meeting the Kenai River king salmon escapement goal. That leaves the drift gillnetters as the main method of harvesting a large surplus of sockeye salmon headed to the Kenai River. Where the rub comes is when the department allowed drift gillnetting far out into Cook Inlet, rather than closer to the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers where the surplus salmon are bound.

Worse development for Mat-Su salmon stocks

On July 25, ADF&G Commercial Fisheries Management staff announced it is now expected the Kenai River sockeye salmon run to exceed 4.6 million fish.

“Expected,” is a very interesting word for commercial staff to choose in this case, because according to the Central District Drift Gillnet Fishery Management Plan, “at run strengths greater than 4,600,000 sockeye salmon to the Kenai River, there will be no mandatory restrictions during regular fishing periods.”

So, is the run strength of Kenai sockeye greater than 4.6 million or not? If there is any uncertainty, as implied by ADF&G commercial fish staff’s choice of the word “expected,” then mandatory restrictions to the drift fleet under lower Kenai River sockeye run levels should stay in place. This, of course, was not the choice made by commercial staff.

With huge amounts of time already provided to drift gillnetting in the expanded Kenai and Kasilof Corridor (as allowed by the plan), with an emergency order overruling the plan and allowing additional area and time to be fished out past the expanded corridor — and now with ADF&G commercial staff using “expectations” to allow all regular drift periods to be fished in the center of Upper Cook Inlet — don’t expect even an average return of Northern District coho salmon to provide any silver lining for a sport fishing season that has already seen every wild king salmon freshwater fishery in the Mat-Su Valley closed early by emergency order.

Coho expectations

I’ve guided several salmon fishing charters since king salmon fisheries closed on June 25, with all of those trips run on the Little Susitna River. Silver, or coho, salmon catching has been slow, and while sport catch numbers will increase as we get later in July and August, at this point expect much less than a banner year for coho.

Chum salmon are available at Little Susitna in good numbers right now. Over on the Deshka River and other Sustina River drainage streams, higher coho catches are being made. This is likely a result of two factors: 1. Anglers on most Susitna drainage streams may now use bait, which can be highly effective for catching coho salmon. 2. Coho salmon from Mat-Su stream drainages, other than the Little Susina River, are smaller in size, making it easier for them to slip through gillnets out in the Inlet.

Coho salmon should also be arriving in locations throughout the Knik Arm. I would expect some coho have already been caught at Jim, Wasilla and Cottonwood creeks, along with Eklutna Tailrace. Be sure and check regulations before you fish. Of particular note is Wasilla Creek (Rabbit Slough) and Cottonwood Creek, where salmon fishing is only allowed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the weekends in rather small areas on the lower portion of the creeks. Although Fish Creek already has a few coho salmon (and thousands of sockeye salmon ) passing through the ADF&G weir, it does not open to sport fishing until the first weekend in August (youth only) and then the following weekend to all anglers.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides (fish4salmon.com) is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member (matsuanglers.org) and member of the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission.