State expects to ease salmon subsistence fishing on Yukon

With the outlook for returning kings slightly better than last year's, subsistence fishing should once again include 36-hour and 48-hour fishing periods -- depending on location -- and net-mesh of any size. Subsistence fishermen should also be able to wet their nets as the first, big wave of salmon heads up the Yukon.

Of course, the plan could change, warned Steve Hayes, the fishery manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Biologists predict this summer's king salmon run will be average to below-average, with 155,000 to 226,000 kings expected to return. That's slightly improved from last year's below-average to poor outlook.

The Yukon River king fishery, once a money maker for villages along the river, has struggled for much of the last decade. Commercial fishing has been closed the last two years.

When runs were steadier before 1999, the number of returning salmon averaged about 250,000.

According to the pre-season plan, subsistence fishing can happen around the clock until June 7, shortly before the first wave of fish usually arrives in the river.

After that, managers will institute the same windows that fishermen experienced before last year's super-tight restrictions. Villages at the mouth will be limited first, to 36-hour fishing windows. The fishing windows will move upriver along with the first wave of fish, said Hayes.

That's a big improvement from last year, when fishermen sat on the bank for several days early in the season -- fishing was closed as the first wave of fish passed. When fishing was allowed, the fishing windows were halved to as low as 18 hours.

During the season, if the run looks as if it will be smaller than the low-end estimate, managers will remove a fishing period from the down-river district and roll that temporary closure up the river along with the run. That will essentially shut down fishing in villages for about five days at a time, Hayes said.

If the run shapes up to be bigger than the high-end estimate, managers might consider allowing some commercial fishing, said Hayes.

Hayes announced the plan Thursday at an Anchorage meeting that brought together state and federal biologists and dozens of fishermen from tribal groups along the river. The Yukon Drainage Fisheries Development Association organized the gathering.

Emotions were high last year when villagers who rely on kings for money and food had to sit and watch salmon swim past.