This weekend the taste of fresh fish filled the mouths of people who live along the Kuskokwim after the river’s first gillnet opening in two weeks. Fishery managers announced the 12-hour opening on Friday, but with king salmon running low this season, managers have concerns if the species will meet escapement. At Friday's meeting the decision to open the river didn’t come easy or without controversy.
“At times like this, during conservation times, makes my heart heavy and puts rocks in my stomach," said Nick Kameroff of Aniak. "I’m sitting here trying to make decisions for the better of all people throughout the whole drainage.”
Kameroff advises the federal and state managers of the Kuskokwim River. On Friday, he and others told them to open the river to gillnets. And they they did for twelve hours on Saturday.
But other advisors for the the Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group protested, calling the move shortsighted. More salmon species are now running, but the kings are still moving upriver.
“I think we’re at the point where if we don’t put the brakes on, we’re going to pay the price down the road,” said Dave Cannon of Aniak, who called into the meeting.
That’s because thousands of kings can be caught during an opening. More than halfway through the run, the king numbers are so small that they could set a new record low. Many fear that the species won’t meet escapement, meaning that not enough kings will reach their spawning grounds.
State manager Chuck Brazil said that not meeting escapement this year doesn’t spell doom for the species.
“If one year of escapement is not met for Chinook salmon in the Kuskokwim River Drainage, it’s unlikely to be detrimental to the viability of the Chinook population. Now, if we miss the goal several years in a row, that could probably be problematic,” said Brazil.
Already, multiple king runs this decade have not met current escapement goals. Other runs barely pushed over the threshold. A couple exceeded that threshold. If this year’s run does set a new low, no one knows what effect that could have; it’s never been seen before.
Some advisors said that every king counts and needs to remain in the water. Others said that the people of the Kuskokwim had been patient long enough, and that with July approaching, maggots would be attacking drying racks soon. Others warned of social unrest and reported that people were already fishing illegally.
With hard choices in either direction - to keep drying racks empty or to submit the few kings in the river to thousands of driftnets - mangers chose to open the Kuskokwim.
They just hoped fishermen would target the abundant red and chum salmon and spare the collapsing kings.
Correction: This story has been changed from its previous version to show that managers have concerns on whether the Kuskokwim king salmon run will meet escapement. Managers have not predicted whether or not the run will meet escapement. The story has also been adjusted to include that some king runs this decade have exceeded drainage-wide escapement goals set by state fishery mangers.
