Who gets Copper River Chinook?

Managing a Chinook (king salmon) fishery is not an easy task. We can all agree that we need to achieve adequate upriver spawning as the bare minimum so that the return will be sustainable for years to come. Ideally, the return is strong enough that subsistence, personal-use, and commercial uses can all be accommodated.

Unfortunately, salmon don’t start upriver and go down. Managers have the critical job of estimating returns based on a variety of factors past and present. The first users with access to returning kings are the commercial users in Cordova. The boat owners, the captain and crew are individuals just like you and me, trying to make a living from a renewable highly-coveted natural resource. They harvest what the Alaska Department of Fish & Game estimates is sustainable. As of mid-April, the Copper River Chinook salmon total run forecast was 47,000, just 2% below the 10-year (2014–2023) average of 48,000 fish. To put this in context, the escapement goal is 21,000–31,000 Chinook.

Due to early conservation concerns, ADF&G reported that the ‘inside closure area’ would be closed during early season fishing periods, and that it could possibly be expanded early in the season to include waters inside the barrier islands.

In the first 12-hour opener of the 2024 Copper River commercial salmon fishery in mid-May, a total of nearly 43,000 sockeye salmon, 1,108 Chinook, 247 chum, and two cohos were delivered to processors. In the second opener, a total of 51,994 sockeye, 1,284 Chinook, 2,182 chum, and 62 coho salmon. As of May 21, ADF&G reported a catch to date of 93,851 sockeye, 2,392 Chinook, 2,433 chum, and 64 coho salmon.

The world over knows that early caught Copper River salmon are top-notch wild run ocean bounty, bringing incredible value to these fisheries. On May 18th, over 400 attended an event in Girdwood to sample some of the first Copper River sockeye (red salmon), raising over $8,000 for the Make A Wish Foundation. An incredible event for a wonderful organization.

By June 11th, the overall Prince William Sound commercial reported harvest was 253,563 sockeye, 6,055 Chinook, 13,143 chum, and 65 coho salmon.

Still, the question of sustainability is always out there.

So who is the next on the list to get a chance at Copper River salmon? As the upriver migration begins, subsistence users and Personal-Use permit holders from Cordova up through Chitina begin to pull in salmon to fill local freezers. While we all fish under various state and federal regulatory openers, it’s important to remember we are all Alaskans looking to put fresh wild caught salmon in our freezers.

The Native Village of Eyak has been running the mark-recap project below Woods Canyon now for several years, catching, marking, and re-capturing Chinook and sockeye as they make their way upriver. Between new sonar technology and the Eyak fishwheels, ADF&G continually monitors the run strength and timing.

Native Village of Eyak Copper River Chinook Project

As salmon moved upriver, it became apparent the 2024 Chinook run was weaker than the preseason forecast. The Native Village of Eyak research fish wheels, through June 17 showed the lowest return since 2003, suggesting that the in river return may come in near the lower end of the escapement goal. Sonar data, early subsistence and personal-use fishery reports also suggest that abundance is lower than anticipated.

To ensure long-term run sustainability, ADF&G has determined that restricting the Upper Copper River Chinook sport fishery is warranted. Effective Monday June 24th, ADF&G will prohibit the retention of Chinook salmon of any size and prohibits the use of bait and multiple hooks in the sport fisheries occurring in all flowing waters of the Upper Copper River drainage upstream of the south bank of Haley Creek. Before release, no Chinook may be removed from the water.

The first shoe to drop.

King salmon conservation measures are also being taken in the Chitina Subdistrict personal use dip net salmon fishery. While this is not good news for Alaskan families looking to put wild run Chinook in their freezers for the year, ADF&G is watching the return closely, to ensure a sufficient return so that the future of this run is not jeopardized.

While no subsistence restrictions have been suggested yet, the NPS Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve issued an announcement today urging subsistence users to be aware of the present conservation concerns. They are requesting that users consider voluntarily releasing healthy Chinook salmon.

So why are Chinook returns below forecasts?

Unfortunately, no single factor has emerged as a cause for lower Chinook returns on the Copper River, the Kenai, the Kuskokwim or the Yukon. Excessive harvest through commercial trawling, inshore commercial fishing, degraded spawning habitat, rising sea temperatures, and increasing predation by protected sea mammals are all factors that could be playing a role. While every fishery has different upriver conditions, each share common ground when it comes to the ocean portion of the salmon life-cycle.

There are a tremendous number of professionals, state, federal, tribal and other private biologists and organizations working on the issue of Chinook sustainability in Alaska and across the Pacific Northwest. They must continue to work together on the goal of common sense management that supports all Alaskan user groups.

As Alaskans, we must step up and speak up. Stay involved and stay informed.

If we don’t have sustainable fisheries, all of us that rely on these renewable resources suffer. We lose our way of life.

When we ignore these incredibly important issues, others will make decisions for us.

If you get a chance, read more about the blunt force action being pursued by the Wild Fish Conservancy, a Seattle-based group. Sounds like a worthy group right? Look deeper. They are seeking an Endangered Species Act status review of Chinook in the entire Gulf of Alaska region, which they define as encompassing “all Chinook populations that enter the marine environment of the Gulf of Alaska.” ADF&G Commissioner Vincent-Lang notes that “this is akin to carrying out a single status review for all Chinook salmon in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho”.

The NOAA status review team has already issued an initial positive finding, and will now move forward to evaluate Chinook in this area on current status and extinction risk, including:

• Biology

• Ecology

• Abundance and population trends

• Traditional Knowledge

• Threats to the species

The team will develop a status review report that will undergo peer review, and peer reviewer comments will be made publicly available.

ADF&G is working tirelessly to ensure sustainability of these Chinook salmon runs, but the issue is incredibly complex.

If you want to have a voice in the future of Chinook fishing in Alaska, this is your opportunity!

Anyone with knowledge of these fisheries may submit relevant data and information, identified by “Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon petition” or by the docket number, NOAA-NMFS-2024-0042, through the following:

• Electronic submissions: via the Federal eRulemaking Portal

• Mail to: Anne Marie Eich, Assistant Regional Administrator, Protected Resources Division, Alaska Region NOAA Fisheries. Attn. Susan Meyer, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802

Comments must be received on or before July 23, 2024. The State of Alaska has asked for a delay in the deadline, but no ruling as been made.

NOAA Fisheries will post all information received on http://www.regulations.gov.

Collectively, we Alaskans can have a say in what happens next.