Update: This story has been updated with information about ADFG's opening.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced a 24-hour opening on the main channel of the Kuskokwim River for chinook and chum salmon by federally qualified subsistence users.
The opening is effective from noon (12:01 p.m.) Thursday to noon (11:59 a.m.) Friday. Gill nets including drift and set nets must be 6-inch mesh or less and no more than 45 meshes in depth. Upriver the nets can’t exceed 25 fathoms or 150 feet above the Johnson River to the border of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Aniak. Downriver the nets can’t exceed 50 fathoms or 300 feet below the Johnson River to the mouth of the Kuskokwim River.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife asks subsistence fishers to report their harvests to the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
The previous opening, which lasted for 12 hours on Sunday, allowed fishers to harvest an estimated 3,100 to 5,100 chinook salmon.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has also announced an opening for subsistence users from the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge boundary at Aniak to the Holitna River mouth. The opening begins Thursday at noon and extends until further notice. Gill nets must be 6-inch mesh or less and not exceed 25 fathoms.
