Warning: Unsustainable salmon management has impacts!

The July 26, 2024 Mat-Su Anglers column headlined, ADF&G Management Threatens Mat-Su Salmon Escapements, and that threat is now reality.

No Bait - One Coho Daily Limit for Little Susitna and Jim Creek On Friday August 2 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announced that bait fishing would be prohibited and the sport fishing coho salmon bag limit would be reduced to one coho salmon daily on Little Susitna River and Jim Creek from Tuesday August 6 — Monday Sept. 30. A bait prohibition in a coho salmon sport fishery is often considered a 50% reduction in harvest. A 50% reduction in bag limit would further reduce the sport coho salmon harvest by some amount.

No Bait — One Coho Limit for Susitna River Drainage In a Separate August 2, 2024 announcement ADF&G prohibited bait fishing in all waters of the Susitna River drainage and reduced the Susitna River drainage sport fishing coho salmon limit to one fish, from August 6 - Sept. 30. Bait prohibition at 50% coho harvest reduction plus bag limit reductions of 50 — 67% in differing areas of the Susitna River drainage.

Note: Even though commercial fisheries harvest coho salmon stocks before they migrate upstream past salmon counting weirs — the considerably more conservative inriver sport fisheries were restricted before emergency restrictions for coho conservation were made in either the Central District Drift Gillnet Fishery or the Northern District Set Net Fishery.

No Reduction in Drift Gill Net Fishery for Coho Conservation Upper Cook Inlet Commercial Fisheries Announcement #52 allows drift gillnetting without further restriction in Drift Gillnet Areas 3 and 4 on Mondays and Thursdays starting August 8 throughout the remainder of the 2024 season until closed or restricted by emergency order. ADF&G has not announce an emergency order restriction (beyond those listed in management plan regulation) to the drift gill net fishery for coho conservation reasons during the 2024 season

Expanded/Reduced Northern District Commercial Coho Harvest Opportunity?

On August 8 commercial fishing in the General Subdistrict of the Northern District (Westside and Fire Island) by regulation allows a full complement of nets and gear length (105 fathoms or 630 feet). Considering only one net with a gear length of 35 fathoms or 210 feet had been allowed during the August 1 and August 5 periods for conservation concerns of Susitna River sockeye salmon — allowing an unspecified number of nets with a 67% increase in the aggregate gear length has the appearance of providing triple or more coho salmon harvest potential. Upper Cook Inlet Commercial Announcement #53 reduces time in the Northern District set net fishery by 50% from 7am - 1pm. on Thursday August 8, 2024. These two conflicting commercial regulations / percentages beg the question — Is ADF&G allowing an expanded Northern District commercial coho salmon harvest opportunity starting on August 8?

No Area Restricted in Northern District Commercial Fishery Although starting August 7, by regulation, ADF&G can no longer restrict commercial fishing net numbers or gear length the department can restrict by time and AREA. Many years ADF&G restricts, by emergency regulation, the fishing area in which the Central District drift gillnet fishery may operate. In many years (including the 2024 sport fishing coho salmon restrictions mentioned above) ADF&G has restricted sport fishing area(s) by emergency regulations. This begs more questions: With a severe coho salmon spawning escapement shortage identified and a sport fishing AREA restriction already in place at Little Susitna River, Why has ADF&G continued to allow commercial fishing within one mile of the Little Susitna River / Knik Arm terminus? What scientific / biological metric would allow (potentially larger) commercial coho salmon harvests within one mile of the mouth of Little Susitna River during this time of documented coho salmon shortage?

I would encourage anyone happy with the present unsustainable management of Northern Cook Inlet salmon fisheries to do nothing. For those willing to put some effort into restoring healthy Northern Cook Inlet and Mat-Su salmon populations and reasonable shared salmon harvest opportunities for ALL Northern Cook Inlet users, I would encourage you to contact your state legislators and or Governor Dunleavy and ask for conservative Upper Cook Inlet salmon management that better ensures reaching mid-points of all Northern Cook Inlet salmon spawning escapement goal ranges on most years, thereby, providing a full season of reasonable salmon harvest opportunity (uninterrupted by emergency restrictions or closures) for all Northern Cook Inlet users, during most years.

Mat-Su Salmon Sport Fishing Opportunities Talking with ADF&G Area Fisheries Management Biologist, Samantha Oslund this week, we agreed that although it is late in the season, Mat-Su sockeye salmon fisheries may continue to provide some of the better salmon catching/harvesting opportunities for anglers during the coming week. Considering that measured sockeye salmon escapements during the week of July 29 - August 5 were over 13,000 at Fish Creek, over 6,000 at Larson Creek, and 1,433 at Jim Creek -- those locations may continue to provide important sockeye salmon harvest opportunities. In addition, remote sockeye fisheries at Lake Creek and the Talachulitna River may likely be productive in the coming week as well. Cottonwood Creek also provides a weekend only sockeye and coho salmon fishery near Wasilla, and anglers have been catching both sockeye and coho salmon at the Eklutna Tailrace fishery.

Coho Salmon For the July 29 - August 5 week, Coho salmon escapements of 754 at Little Susitna River, 242 at Deshka River, 116 at Fish Creek, and 69 at Jim Creek should be concerning. In my discussion with Samantha Oslund this week, she mentioned wanting to closely observe coho salmon escapements at these normally productive Northern Cook Inlet / Mat-Su locations, before considering any additional sport fishing regulation changes. Coho anglers, may therefore, have at least one additional weekend of restricted harvest opportunity to pursue quality coho salmon at these Mat-Su locations this season.

Good Luck and Fish On!