Friday's gillnet opening in the lower Kuskokwim River may not be the last one. The Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group is recommending that the community of Kasigluk receive additional fishing hours this season after recent deaths limited the community’s ability to subsistence fish.
Coffee@KYUK: Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and ONC Summer Youth Employment Program
Follow the link to listen to the chat hosted by PETRA HARPAK & S. GRADY DEATON.
Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Executive Director Mary Peltola and Employment, Training and Child Care Director Nicholai Joekay. Photo taken on May 30, 2018.
KYUK: Kuskokwim Tribes Urge Feds To Take Over Lower River To Block Incidental King Harvest
The number of king salmon predicted to return to the Kuskokwim River this year has taken a dramatic drop. Two tribal groups and one private citizen don’t think the state is doing enough to conserve the kings, and they’ve each submitted paperwork requesting that federal managers immediately take over the lower river to restrict fishing.
KYUK: Discussion Begins On Guidelines For Producing More Kuskokwim Fish Through Hatcheries
With king salmon runs declining on the Kuskokwim River, at least one village has expressed interest in developing a hatchery. But without a government-recognized plan, the Kuskokwim can’t develop such a resource. A group is gathering to change that and has begun the long process of creating what’s called a "salmon production plan."
Such a plan would not deal with salmon management, but instead would lay out guidelines for producing more fish through hatchery projects. Such production plans were developed in most regions of the state in the 1970s and 80s, as depressed fish harvests increased interest in hatcheries among commercial fishermen. But the Kuskokwim never had much commercial fishing or this interest.