New year starts with disheartening news for Valley anglers

Northern District sportsfishing anglers received some disheartening news this week in the form of a couple of news releases issued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Both announcements bring bad news – one directly and the other indirectly.

The direct news is that ADF&G has announced the total closure of the Northern Cook Inlet sport and commercial 2019 king salmon fishing season. Even the subsistence fisheries will be restricted. Quoting from the press release: “The department is restricting and closing king salmon fisheries to conserve weak king salmon stocks. Multiple king salmon stocks in NCI, including seven stocks of concern, have failed to meet escapement goals in recent years.”

Continuing, “King salmon sport fisheries will be closed in 2019 throughout the Susitna River, Yentna River and Little Susitna River drainages. Commercial fishing will be closed in the Northern District of Upper Cook Inlet through June 24 to allow passage of king salmon through the district.”

The release goes on, “Subsistence king salmon fisheries in the Tyonek Subdistrict and Upper Yentna, which are each open three days a week by regulation, are being restricted to two days per week during the respective subsistence fishery seasons. This shares the burden of conservation across all user groups while recognizing a subsistence priority.”

The department will be monitoring king salmon run strengths and, where and when possible, may restore some fishing opportunity if runs come in stronger than expected. However, achieving escapement goals will be the main priority, coming before any fishing opportunity is possibly restored.

The indirect bad news is contained in another news release about the 2019 Upper Cook Inlet Sockeye Salmon Forecast. This report is provided every year to give the commercial fishing industry a “heads up” regarding anticipated sockeye salmon run strengths in Cook Inlet. The systems included in this forecast are: the Kenai, Kasilof, and Susitna Rivers; Fish Creek and unmonitored drainages. The total run average is forecast to be 6,035,000 sockeye salmon. The average is derived from a forecast range.

Let’s assume all maximum escapement goals for all the specific drainages mentioned are achieved. That would mean 1,760,000 sockeyes in fresh waters, with 4,275,000 fish available for harvest. If any of the systems have a return greater than the forecasted average, then even more fish would be available for harvest according to the various management plans used to manage the Cook Inlet sockeye salmon runs.

Here’s where the bad news starts to emerge. According to the management plan used to regulate the commercial drift fishery in the Central District, if the projection of sockeye return strengths is greater than 4.3 million, there is very little restriction on where and when the drift fleet can fish in Cook Inlet. While not all of that possible 4.3 million harvest number will be taken by the drift fleet, a substantial portion will be.

The return projections for sockeye salmon will be well known going into the end of July and early August. If the projections hold, that means more time and areas open to commercial harvest, supposedly for sockeye salmon. What happens is that large numbers of silver salmon destined for Northern District waters will be intercepted, since the two species travel in mixed groupings during that time. According to ADF&G’s own reports, around 95% of the silvers caught during this time frame are Northern District fish. The projected commercial catch of silvers for 2019 is 207,000 fish.

Not only have we lost the king salmon to sport harvest in 2019, but with the existing management plan and projected harvest of silver salmon returning to the Northern District, we could see a poor harvest in the sport fishery for Coho as well.

The strong projected return of sockeye salmon, while great for the commercial industry, will have a negative impact on sport fishing in Northern Cook Inlet because of the large numbers of silvers intercepted during the last few weeks of the sockeye runs. 2019 will probably not be remembered as a great year to sport fish for salmon in the Mat-Su Valley!

\If you’re beginning to look around for other outdoor activities this summer in lieu of salmon fishing, keep in mind the Wasilla High School Hockey Booster Gun and Outdoor Show scheduled for Jan. 19-20 at Wasilla High School. It’s early enough to begin gearing up for the coming hunting season and shooting can easily become a year-around activity too.

I’ve always enjoyed attending this show. Maybe I’ll see you there and we can bemoan the upcoming fishing season together!