Fisheries, Subsistence, and Habitat
Publications Searchable Database
Search Again| Division: | Commercial Fish |
| Title: | Kuskokwim River salmon stock status and Kuskokwim area fisheries, 2019: a report to the Alaska Board of Fisheries. |
| Author: | Tiernan, A., C. Lipka, and N. Smith. |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Report ID: | Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Special Publication No.18-19, Anchorage. |
| Abstract: | This report provides the Alaska Board of Fisheries with information on Kuskokwim Area Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. stock status including escapement and harvest data for the January 2019 regulatory meeting. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is responsible for managing Kuskokwim Area salmon stocks for sustained yield. Subsistence fishing occurs throughout the area but commercial salmon fishing is restricted to 4 districts within the Kuskokwim Area. Commercial fishing Districts 1 and 2 are within the Kuskokwim River; Districts 4 and 5 are in Kuskokwim Bay and target salmon bound for the Kanektok and Goodnews rivers. Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha, known locally as king salmon) runs to the Kuskokwim River have been low since 2010, which led to severe restrictions in 2014?2018 and federal special actions within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge to conserve king salmon. Since 2014, subsistence harvest of king salmon has been well below established amounts reasonably necessary for subsistence (ANS) and commercial and sport fisheries have been closed during the king salmon run. This report presents an overview of Kuskokwim Area abundance, escapement, harvest trends, and fishery management for king, sockeye O. nerka, chum O. keta, and coho O. kisutch salmon since 2016. |
| Keywords: | Chinook (king) salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, chum salmon, O. keta, sockeye salmon, O. nerka, coho salmon, O. kisutch, subsistence, commercial, fishing, stock status, Alaska Board of Fisheries, Kuskokwim Area. |