King Salmon Restricted in the Mat-Su

PALMER — An emergency order by the Department of Fish and Game suspending king salmon fishing on the Little Susitna and Susitna river drainage. King fishing on the Deshka and Yetna Rivers is limited to catch-and-release fishing. Little Susitna king fishing is limited to catch and release Tuesday through Thursday beginning May 1, and may be retained Friday through Monday with a limit of two kings greater than 20 inches in the Little Susitna drainage.

Commissioner Sam Cotten addressed the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission Thursday afternoon with Scott Kelley and Tom Brookover from DF&G. The commission posed 14 questions hoping to gain greater understanding of why these restrictions were put in place and how to avoid such closures in the future.

“Our first job is to protect the fish. We have a constitutional directive to ensure the sustainability and health of the salmon runs, and with our projection suggesting that we aren't going to make escapement, we really don't feel we have any choice but to start out with heavy restrictions. We recognize the importance of the sportfishing industry to the local economy. We're going to watch it close, and we're going to make our escapement. That's our first priority and our responsibility,” said Cotten.

Valley gubernatorial candidate Mike Dunleavy attended the meeting.

“The folks who know the most about the fisheries resources in the Mat-Su recommended some modest, prudent steps to ensure that we preserve our salmon resource, including a reduced annual catch limit. But instead of implementing these sensible conservation measures, the Department opted for the ‘nuclear option’ without regard to the impact of the local economy or opportunity to Valley anglers. That decision is indefensible based on the data we have. It’s a shoddy way to be managing our fisheries,” said Dunleavy through a press release.

The restrictions do not effect the Eklutna Tailrace, but nearly closes king fishing for the entire Valley. The commission was first and foremost distraught with the timing of the release. Members argued that escapement projections should be released in late November at the latest to give those anglers and commercial fishing businesses time to plan for the upcoming season.

Further questioning bought under scrutiny the accuracy of the escapement projections. The main push by members of the commission was toward a Susitna drainage management plan to prevent surprise regulations. A management plan would allow for in-season adjustments based on pre-season projections and provide in-season data to the public for further predictability on restrictions and liberalizations of regulations.

“It’s unfortunate things have to get sick sometimes before you change your ways and try to address your problems. This is very, very, very, significant. King salmon are a very important part of our economic benefit for fisheries in the area, it’s a very important part of why people reside here,” said Fish and Wildlife Commission Member Larry Engel.

Engel worked as a fish biologist for 30 years before serving on the Board of Fish for nine years. Engel led the charge toward a call for a management plan for the Susitna drainage. While members of the commission include guides whose businesses may take a hit due to these regulations, discussion was centered around moving forward and finding a better way to manage the regulations so that there would be more fishing opportunities.

“Prohibiting retention of king salmon in the Susitna River drainage is expected to provide some opportunity and still achieve escapement goals during 2018. Below average runs during previous years, past performance of fisheries within the Susitna River drainage under previous years’ management strategies, and uncertainty over how returns may recover in the future justify starting the 2018 season with these restrictions,” read the emergency order. Sustainable Escapement goals of 900-1800 fish was achieved between 2012 and 2016, but the new SEG included a range of 2,100-4,300 fish.

“The 2017 run was lower than anticipated and the weir based SEG was achieved after the sport fishery was closed late in the season,” said the emergency order.

“In my time here in 14 years I haven’t seen restrictions of this nature,” said Sam Oslund, Assistant Area Management Biologist. “The sport fish harvest has been 3,300 fish per season at best in the Mat Su, so we’ve definitely trended downwards in terms of harvest. In terms of escapement, drainage wise, last year was particularly poor. This years forecast is similar, we only made two of our 17 escapement goals. If we see the run coming back stronger than we forecasted, we can relax regulations and put harvest back in,” said Oslund.