Rejecting unsustainable Northern Cook Inlet Salmon Management

Near the end of a 2024 fishing season where every Mat-Su location with legal fishing fishing opportunity targeting wild king salmon, listed in the sport fishing regulation booklet, was closed for the entire season, and where sport fishing for coho salmon will likely produce some of the lowest annual sport coho salmon harvest figures on record — since ADF&G started using their Statewide Sportfish Harvest Survey in 1977 — I asked 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle partner /owner, Mike Hudson, what he could recommend for fishing on Tuesday August 19.

“Mat-Su salmon fishing is slowing down even more— following ADF&G issuing emergency season-ending closures to coho salmon fishing on August 15,” was his grim, but realistic response.

While just a few years ago it would have been nearly unfathomable to even consider such a depleted state of wild king and wild coho salmon stocks returning to Mat-Su Valley locations — the reality is — that is where we are at this point in 2024. Watching how the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) managed Upper Cook Inlet salmon stocks returning to Northern Cook Inlet / Mat-Su locations was a long, slow, arduous ordeal in unsustainable salmon management starting in early July. Below is a couple of unsustainable management options (for Northern Cook Inlet salmon) that should be forever removed from Upper Cook Inlet fisheries regulations.

Quadruple and Double Dipping the Conservation Corridor

5 AAC 21.353 Central District Drift Gillnet Fishery Management Plan — allows plenty of discretion for management of the commercial fishery, however, the purpose of the plan is “to ensure adequate escapement and a harvestable surplus of salmon into the Northern District and to provide management guidelines to the department. The department shall manage the commercial drift gillnet fishery to minimize the harvest of Northern District salmon and Kenai River coho salmon in order to provide all users a reasonable opportunity to harvest these salmon stocks over their entire run, as measured by the number of inseason restrictions. . . .”

Quadruple Dipping in Conservation Corridor While the plan may allow ADF&G the option to provide four Central District-wide drift gillnet openings (excluding only Chinitna Bay) in 5 days, as the department did on July 4, 6, 7, and 8, there is no rational way to explain how such action “minimizes” the harvest of Northern District salmon during those 5 days. While drift harvests were modest (compared to later in the season) such Quadrupling surely retards early to mid- July salmon harvest opportunities (for Northern Cook Inlet and all other users) rather than providing a reasonable opportunity to harvest for all users over the entire run, as directed in the drift gillnet plan. Tripling or Quadrupling (before July 9) increases the likelihood of inseason restrictions and closures for all Northern Cook Inlet users later in the season. Note: Upper Cook Inlet Commercial Announcements 18 and 19 (adding more than standard hours) allowed July 7 and 8 drift gill netting districtwide (including the Conservation Corridor, but excluding Chinitna Bay) based solely on the intent to harvest more Kasilof River sockeye and abundant sockeye (as measured only at Kasilof River) with NO mention to the impacts for Northern bound salmon stocks or the increased likelihood of later restrictions/closures for all Northern Cook Inlet users. Recommendation: Since the new Federal waters fishery now provides weekly drift gillneting opportunity in an approximately 1300 square mile mid-inlet portion of Drift Gillnet Area1 ( a large portion of the Conservation Corridor) more sustainable management of Northern Cook Inlet salmon stocks should be provided, along with opportunity to harvest abundant early- arriving Kasilof River sockeye, by limiting all state water drift gillnetting, before July 9, to the Kasilof Section or even the Expanded Kasilof Section — large harvest areas which all Kasilof River sockeye must swim through before they reach the Kasilof River.

Double Dipping in the Conservation Corridor occurred during the July 16-31 time frame when the plan may allow, at maximum, one regular period per week of drift gill netting in Drift Gillnet Area 1 (a portion of the Conservation Corridor) at run strengths of 2.3 to 4.6 sockeye salmon to the Kenai River. The rub came with 2024 Federal Management of a portion of Drift Gillnet Area 1 also scheduled to occur one day per week during this same time frame — but instead of scheduling the state waters and Federal waters fisheries to occur on the same day of each week — federal and state water fisheries (in different portions of Area 1) were scheduled on different days of the week. Fishing two days per week in different portions of Drift Gillnet Area 1 is most likely to cause additive harvests/increased exploitation of the Northern bound salmon stocks (the plan calls for minimizing). The now historically-low 2024 Northern Cook Inlet coho salmon escapement levels and corresponding plethora of later season emergency restrictions / closures to Northern Cook Inlet sport and commercial fisheries demonstrates why the plan needs clarification language, to avoid additive double dipping exploitation (even different portions) of the Conservation Corridor from July 16 - 31.

It is my intent to further this discussion in next week’s column:

Fishing recommendations for the last week of August:

*Northern pike, rainbow trout, and Arctic char at Big Lake

*Stocked Mat-Su Valley lakes for trout, char, landlocked salmon

*Eklutna Tailrace coho salmon — spotty results reported — but open and close to home

*Road Trippers —Good coho salmon harvest opportunity in the Kenai River.

Good Luck and Fish On!