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Low Salmon Numbers Means Tighter Fishing RestrictionsAnglers limited to two kings on both the Susitna River and Little Susitna RiverRelated Content
ALASKA - Low numbers of king salmon in the Northern Cook Inlet area mean the fishing will be restricted beginning May 15. “The last three years we've had scattered runs,” said Ken Marsh from the Division of Sport Fish. “We haven’t had as many fish as we'd like to.” The Alaska Department of Fish and Games said there is a below-average outlook for the upcoming season. Anglers can catch a limit of two kngs on both the Susitna River and Little Susitna River. “So a person could get their Upper Cook Inlet annual limit of 5, they could get two out of the Susitna drainage, two out of the Little Susitna drainage and one elsewhere,” said Marsh. Fish and Game can’t be sure when numbers will rebound, but officials said there isn’t anything to worry about. "Not everybody's happy certainly, I’m disappointed. I'd like to catch a few more fish but we need to tighten out belts for now and help bring those fisheries back.” So where are the best places to go for early season fishing? Marsh said the salt water fisheries for kings out of Seward and Homer are both doing really well. And by the second week of May there is expected to be good dip netting for hooligan in the inlet. With ice breaking up quickly on all of the lakes across Anchorage it will only be another week or two before they are stocked full of fish from the new hatchery. The William Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery has 330,000 rainbow trout getting ready for release into more than 200 lakes across the state. “We also want the water to warm up a little bit just so that there’s more food naturally available for the fish once we put them in the lakes,” said hatchery manager Andrea Tesch. Arctic charr and grayling will also be released into lakes within the next two weeks. |
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Jeff Pilcher said on Thursday, May 3 at 7:44 AM
F&G in every state manage every aspect of a salmon fishery based on one number: "escapement." However, in every fishery, this is a ballpark number at best — a guess based on any number of unreliable methods (e.g., aerial count). How can you manage a multi-billion dollar industry from a single, unscientific number? And yet... There is ZERO correlation between "escapement" numbers and the size of future returns. For kings, you'd think strong "escapement" numbers in Year X would result in strong returns in Year X 4, but no. Conversely, you'd think weak "escapement" numbers would translate into weak returns four years later, but no. When will fishermen wise up and demand a reliable, accurate, scientific and relevant/credible system for managing fisheries? Or are we happy and satisfied with the same crud everyone's heard a million times? "We really don't know how many fish are returning. We know is it's fewer, and we have absolutely no clue why."
89624204mark said on Wednesday, May 2 at 8:19 AM
Again the sport fishermen have to take the brunt of the closures because the commercial fisheries and west side "subsistence" from tyonek are allowed to run totally unchecked. When will all of us share the burden and not just the sport fishermen?
89507926Karen Dupont said on Tuesday, May 1 at 10:13 PM
Both spellings happen to be correct. It's one of those either or scenario's depending on one's background, : )
89464713fisherr said on Tuesday, May 1 at 9:50 PM
char r?
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