BETHEL -- Early Monday morning, a crew of three caught a Kuskokwim River king salmon just past Aniak as part of a new test fishery to help managers assess the composition of the salmon runs that feed residents up and down the river.
The state Department of Fish and Game, which has budgeted $40,000 for the project, wanted more information on when -- and if -- various species of salmon reach upriver waters, a state management biologist said.
A fishing crew with new gillnets in a leased boat will drift twice a day, starting at 9 a.m. and again at 5 p.m., making three passes to cover the width of the river in the selected fishing area, said Dan Gillikin, environmental director for the Native Village of Napaimute, which the state has contracted with for the work.
The state already runs a test fishery in Bethel that helps managers gauge the size and timing of the salmon runs. This new effort will supplement that. It mainly will tell the composition of different species -- king, red, chum and silver salmon -- heading upriver, Gillikin said.
There isn't a sonar counter on the Kuskokwim River, though that possibility is being studied. For now, managers rely heavily on the Bethel test fishery in making decisions about subsistence and, lower in the river, commercial openings.
The state last ran an Aniak test fishery from 1992 to 1995. This new project will provide information where there has long been a gap, said Aaron Poetter, area management biologist for Fish and Game.
The village of Aniak will distribute fish caught each morning to elders and others in need. Fish from the late afternoon drifting will be put in a free-fish bin for the community, Gillikin said.
The village seems to be very receptive to the fishery, said Poetter, who made his first visit to Aniak Friday for a community meeting on fish. Any chinook, or king, caught alive will be released when possible, he said.
"This gives us another tool," he said. "It's another way we can address the concerns if people say the fish aren't showing up there."