Running down the restrictions

It’s official!

On Tuesday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) formally issued emergency orders further restricting the existing king salmon sport and commercial fisheries for the Northern District of Cook Inlet. We heard about these regulations earlier this spring, and they take effect May 15. The restrictions are in addition to rules already in place in the sport fishing regulation booklet for Southcentral Alaska and the commercial fishing regulations for the Northern District.

We discussed some of these additional restrictions about a month ago when the rumors were strong that ADF&G would further restrict the northern Cook Inlet king salmon fisheries. The commercial restrictions are fairly simple. They are contained in a statement of the overall management strategy the department is employing to address anticipated poor king salmon returns this season.

Quoting from the news release for the Susitna River restrictions: “Northern Cook Inlet king salmon stocks have been well below average since 2007. This management strategy (additional sport and commercial restrictions), in addition to reducing the Northern District commercial king salmon fishing periods from 12 hours to six hours, is designed to provide fishing opportunity throughout the season and reduce the potential for midseason closures while conserving northern Cook Inlet king salmon.”

The sport fishing management strategy is much more detailed. The annual bag limit of kings 20 inches or longer that can be taken from the Little Susitna River is now two. The total annual bag limit of kings that can be taken from fresh waters of Cook Inlet remains at five fish, but for emphasis, only two can come from the Little Susitna after May 15. Any king taken from the Little Susitna and recorded on your license prior to Tuesday, May 15, does not count toward the two-fish bag limit, but does count toward the five-fish Cook Inlet bag limit.

Confused? It gets better!

Remaining with the Little Susitna, only one unbaited single-hook artificial lure is allowed. That means only one point on the hook and only one hook. Anything else is illegal. You may only harvest a king salmon on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Tuesday through Thursday is catch-and-release only. Catch-and-release fish may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately after landing.

Since the Eklutna Tailrace king salmon fishery is artificially maintained through a hatchery salmon-stocking program, it is exempt from these regulations.

The Susitna River restrictions mirror the two-fish bag limit. Only two king salmon may be harvested from fresh waters of the Susitna River drainage this season and any king 20 inches or longer harvested before the May 15 implementation date is exempt from the two-fish limit, but counts toward the five-fish Cook Inlet limit.

The Little Susitna single-hook unbaited artificial lure restriction is also mirrored everywhere in the Susitna River drainage except the Deshka River. The Deshka is excluded from this restriction and follows the regulations as they appear in the current state regulation booklet.

For Unit 2 streams along the Parks Highway, beginning June 12 through the July 13 season closure, harvest of any king salmon regardless of size is prohibited. Catch-and-release fishing is allowed following a schedule outlined in the news release. Again, any fish you intend to release may not be removed from the water. You may only fish between the hours of 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. on days when fishing is legal. No fishing is allowed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

You will want to review all the additional restrictions to make sure you understand the situation before beginning to fish. I would strongly recommend you pick up a copy of the current Southcentral sportfishing regulations booklet and a copy of the news releases for both the Susitna and Little Susitna River drainages.

The emergency order number for the Little Susitna is 2-KS-2-07-12 and for the Susitna River, 2-KS-06-12. News releases accompany the EO numbers on the website.

These news releases should be available at the Fish and Game office in Palmer or online at adfg.alaska.gov. For questions and further regulation explanation, call Fish and Game at 746-6300.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.