Alaska News

Upriver Kuskokwim residents can fish 24-7 for subsistence

BETHEL -- Subsistence fishing in the upper Kuskokwim River can go around the clock starting 9 p.m. Wednesday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced.

Many residents of Bethel and lower-river villages already have their salmon for winter or are waiting for silvers, managers were told Wednesday. But upriver, residents said they still need fish and asked for longer open periods.

The open fishing will be allowed "until further notice" and applies to the Kuskokwim from its confluence with the Holitna River, near Sleetmute, to the headwaters.

Village and Bethel residents have been under tight restrictions this year, like last year, in an effort to protect and rebuild troubled king salmon runs. Chum salmon also are returning in low numbers, and managers say they don't anticipate any commercial openings for chum.

But this year's run of red salmon on the Kuskokwim is looking strong, state biologists told the Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group on Wednesday.

Most king salmon have moved upriver past the main population area of Bethel and surrounding villages. The bulk already are past McGrath too, group member Ray Collins of McGrath said.

Aaron Poetter, area management biologist, asked the working group members their opinions on when to open the entire river to around-the-clock subsistence fishing. Wait about a week more, he was told.

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Subsistence fishermen will be able to use gillnets no longer than 300 feet and with mesh openings no bigger than 6 inches, though not in the Holitna and Swift rivers. Dipnets no longer will be allowed for subsistence.

But from Holitna to the headwaters, residents fishing for subsistence can target king salmon with hook and line, catching up to three a day. Upriver residents say they don't driftnet because of snags, and setnet sites are few.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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