Salmon Management

Salmon season a is managed based on the “escapement” of key salmon runs at several different rivers. In Cook Inlet the state of Alaska carefully counts salmon ascending the Kenai, Kasilof, and a few other, smaller rivers, These two locations allow counting of the major Red Salmon runs in our district. ADFG opens fishing when enough fish have passed the counting sites, or “escaped” the sea lions, whales, and fishing fleet that try to catch them in the ocean. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has set both lower and upper escapement goals for each of the key Red Salmon runs that pass our district, and when the escapement is at or ahead of the goal, fishing is opened. 

Within Cook Inlet drift netting is allowed opened in several zones, which are intended to manage which types of salmon are caught. King Salmon runs in Cook Inlet have been poor for several years, while Sockeye Salmon runs have been strong. One of the main goals of the salmon openings is to allow fishermen like us to harvest Sockeye Salmon without catching too many King Salmon. One way to accomplish this is to allow drift netting in deep waters. Sockeye tend to swim near the surface, while Kings swim in mid-water if the water is deep. Drift nets hang down from corks that keep the top of the net at the surface, so in deep water the Kings tend to swim far under the net and don't get caught. We didn't catch any Kings last season, despite catching lots of Sockeye and smaller numbers of Chum, Pinks, and Silvers.

One of the interesting features of a salmon run is that there can actually be too many salmon returning to a particular run. This is particularly true of Red (Sockeye) Salmon, which can return to spawn in excessive numbers. When too many salmon return to a spawning ground, the later-arriving salmon disturb the nests of earlier spawners, and the over-abundant Red Salmon will disturb the eggs of other species. The result can be damage to early runs caused by later runs, and a reduction in the number of salmon that will return in subsequent years. As a result of this, Alaska Department of Fish and Game sets upper escapement goals for runs, particularly for Red Salmon runs, and thus catching some of the returning salmon can actually be beneficial to the overall health of the salmon runs. Many of the salmon we catch are excess fish not needed to maintain a healthy population, and in fact they could damage the overall population if they all managed to reach the spawning ground.