This winter, the Alaska Board of Fisheries passed several new regulations for Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery, including measures in response to declining king salmon populations. That species was first designated as a stock of concern in the Nushagak district in 2022, but the regulations won’t go into effect until mid-July, when the king season is mostly over.
Starting July 12th, commercial fishermen in the Nushagak District will no longer be allowed to retain king salmon for personal use.
“As an Alaskan Native, my family has been on this river for generations and fished this river for generations,” said Christina Andrew, a commercial driftfisher and Dillingham resident. “To add an additional middleman to the system for me to eat a king salmon that I have an inherent traditional right to eat–It's just like death by paperwork.”
Regulation changes require kings caught in commercial gillnets be retained, which fishermen must then either sell or donate. There’s at least one program through a local processor for fish donations to tribal elders, but Andrew says she is still concerned about the added steps created by the new regulation.
“You're forced to turn that fish over to a processor who could potentially damage the fish,” she said, “Then trust that they're going to go and donate that to a local tribal organization, and that it would benefit your community when you're right there, you can make sure it benefits yourself and your family for keeping it.”
Until July 12th, the existing king retention regulations from last year will remain in place. The current rules allow fishermen to retain kings for personal use, but still require filling out a fish ticket. Andrew says this new regulation punishes the wrong people.
“We're obligated to do that reporting anyways,” she said, “So if a person is not doing that reporting, what makes the department think that they would report or turn that fish over already. It just seems like it restricts the people that are doing due diligence.”
Doug Vincent-Lang is the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
“That regulation was passed by the Alaska Board of Fisheries,” said Vincent-Lang. “And it was, as I could tell, based on testimony again of a few fishermen who said, 'Yeah, we don't actively report our harvest.’”
He says this underreporting of king salmon is the reason the new regulation was passed.
“At the end of the day, we need hard numbers and what that removal rate is, so that we can calculate the king salmon returns in total to the Nushagak,” Vincent-Lang said.
The Nushagak River holds the most significant king stock in Bristol Bay. Incidental king salmon catch in the Nushagak in recent years has been well below the 20-year average of 33,469 fish, with last year’s harvest being the lowest in the last two decades.
All of these regulatory changes are the result of proposals heard at the Alaska Board of Fisheries meetings for Bristol Bay in January, where anyone can submit proposals. Approved proposals are sent to the Department of Law for review, and filed with the Lieutenant Governor's Office.
But the new regulatory changes weren’t filed until June, which is why most of these regulations don’t go into effect until July 12th – when the king run is mostly over.
Tim Sands is Fish and Game’s west side area management biologist for Bristol Bay. He says that because of the delayed start, the new king retention regulations won’t have much of an impact this season.
“Because it's not going to be implemented till July 12, most of the kings are going to have passed by then,” Sands said. “So we'll see how much of a factor it is this season, and then hopefully we can really dial it in for next year.”
Sands says he recognizes that a lot of fishermen want to keep their kings. And there are ongoing conversations about ways for people to still get kings on their plate or donate their fish once these regulations go into effect.
“It's just a concern,” he said, “Because a lot of people want to keep their kings, and finding a mechanism for them to make sure the kings are reported on fish tickets, but then still to retain the king, is something we've been working at.”
In another effort to conserve king salmon returns, the Board of Fisheries changed the triggers in the Nushagak King Action Plan, which delay the opening of the commercial sockeye fishery.
Vincent-Lang, Fish and Game’s commissioner, says the department will be closely monitoring this season’s runs.
“I've directed my staff to continue the conservation measures that we had in place last year and very closely to monitor the King Salmon numbers that are returning past the sonar and the Nushagak and take necessary actions in that early part of the season to ensure that we're making the King Salmon escapement goal,” he said.
The changed triggers for opening the commercial sockeye fishery which will go into effect in 2027 are an increase from 6–8% for projected Nushagak River sockeye salmon and from 10–12% for projected Wood River sockeye salmon. If neither escapement trigger is met by June 28th, the commercial fishery will open. These increases won’t be in effect to start this season, but Vincent-Lang says the department’s actions may closely mirror those new triggers, as they were created to better protect king salmon returns.
“So we're not instituting the triggers that the board adopted in their actions,” said Vincent-Lang. “But we are closely monitoring, and we'll probably take some restrictive actions in the early part of the season.”
Changes to Bristol Bay’s sport fishery will also go into effect July 12th. This includes prohibiting the use of bait and multiple hooks throughout the king season, from May 1 to July 30.
“It's pretty well known in the sport fishing industry that you get a slightly higher catch rate when you use bait,” said Lee Borden, a sport fishing management biologist for Fish and Game. “So the board was wanting to conserve king salmon by basically just reducing the catch rate on top of what they did on the previous board cycle by reducing the bag limit for big fish.”
Other commercial fishery changes that will go into effect July 12th include regulations on the distance between drift and set gillnet gear in the Nushagak, changes to the 48-hour maximum extension in Togiak, set-net off shore distances in the Ugashik Village Subdistrict, and vessel specifications bay-wide. Until then, last year’s regulations are in place.
Meanwhile, Fish and Game reminds fishermen that the reporting of king salmon for personal use on fish tickets is still required, even before the new regulations take effect.
The escapement goal range for kings in the Nushagak is 55,000 to 120,000. The king run did not make the minimum escapement last year, with only 34,322 fish counted. As of June 22, 5,512 king salmon have been counted at the Nushagak River sonar.
Announcements concerning Bristol Bay fishery regulations can be found on the Alaska Department of Fish & Game’s website through the season.
Get in touch with the author at jessie@kdlg.org
