The North Pacific Fishery Management Council held a special chum salmon bycatch, primarily to review the preliminary draft Environmental Impact Statement (PDEIS or EIS) for new approaches to chum salmon bycatch management in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery, with a prioritization on reducing bycatch of Western Alaska chum salmon.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will next discuss chum salmon bycatch at a special meeting in February 2025. Here is what you need to know to engage.
After the next 36 hour fishing opportunity, YDNWR and KRITFC will rescind all previous fishing restrictions announced for 2024, returning management of the River to the State of Alaska and ADF&G.
The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (YDNWR) In-Season Manager, hereby announces two gillnet and one rod and reel fishing opportunity for federally qualified subsistence users.
Anchorage, AK – Almost every village situated along the Kuskokwim River ventured to Bethel during breakup season this week, to participate in this year’s Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, to examine how to protect its fish population.
Thirty-three tribes reside along the Kuskokwim River and share its fish, who formed the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission four years ago.
On the Kuskokwim River, it’s not an easy decision to travel during breakup. There are chores to be done to prepare for summer, and flooding is a constant risk that keeps people close to their homes, standing guard. But on Monday and Tuesday, a group traveled to Bethel from nearly every village along the river to discuss how to protect the fish that swim by.
Thirty-three tribes live along the Kuskokwim and share all the fish within it. Four years ago, the tribes came together to form the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. It was a historic agreement that allowed tribes to co-manage the Lower Kuskokwim salmon under federal jurisdiction alongside federal managers at the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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.
Who will manage the Lower Kuskokwim subsistence fishery this summer and how they will do it will be decided in the middle of this month.
There are two main plans on the table for managing the fishery under federal jurisdiction.
The first, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would close the portion of the Kuskokwim River inside the Yukon Delta Wildlife Refuge to king salmon fishing from June 12 through August 30 and limit fishing to subsistence users.
The other plan, from the Native Village of Akiak, would close that section of the Kuskokwim to king salmon fishing from May 20 to June 30 and limit fishing to designated community fishermen with harvest quotas. This is similar to what happened in 2015.
The Kuskokwim River is ice-free at the headwaters and the ice is broken in Aniak. News of breakup is always exciting. With daylight shining so late into the night now, summer seems so close and it’s fun to think about the possibility of boat rides and fishing!
On Monday, May 7 and Tuesday, May 8, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on both days, the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission will be having its Annual Commissioner’s Meeting at the Cultural Center in Bethel.
As the days grow longer, our thoughts naturally drift toward planning for salmon fishing this summer.
The summer of 2017 was unusually challenging with the extremely low water in the Kuskokwim watershed, and warm water temperatures in May and June. The king salmon run timing was the latest most of us have ever seen. And, the kings were running so deeply that their presence was difficult to detect. When the kings finally began showing up in real numbers, the chums and reds were already running, the best drying weather had already past, and the rainy days had set in.
When there’s a meeting on the Kuskokwim concerning fish or wildlife, Tuntutuliak elder James Charles is usually at the table. He’s been at that table for decades, kindly looking at managers over his glasses and offering a guiding voice. At the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized Charles as a “Conservation Hero.”
In July, Orutsararmiut Native Council, or ONC, held its first Science and Culture camp for high school students. Campers collected juvenile fish, like baby king and red salmon, and participated in activities in avian biology, ethnobotany, and workshops on federal and state subsistence management. KYUK reporter Christine Trudeau filed this report from their campsite.
This year was the third summer that the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fisheries Commission has co-managed the river with the federal government. No one predicted that the king salmon run would drop as low as it did, and managers had to make hard decisions about keeping the river mostly closed.
How did they do? What have they learned? And how are they changing to better manage the river in the future?
We talk about it here on Fish Talk. Lillian Michael translates the show into Yup'ik.
