Yukon River Fall Season Subsistence Fishing Schedule for Coastal District and Districts 1-3

Emergency Special Action No: 2-FC-01-24 Issued at: Fairbanks, Alaska, July 12, 2024

Effective Date: Friday, July 26, 2024, 12:01 a.m. for Coastal District and District 1
Monday, July 29, 2024, 12:01 a.m. for District 2
Wednesday, July 31, 2024, 12:01 a.m. for District 3

Expiration Date: September 23, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. unless superseded by subsequent special action.
 

EXPLANATION:
This Temporary Special Action transitions the Yukon River area to the fall season and continues the selective gear fishing (dip nets, beach seines, and manned fish wheels) for summer chum salmon in the Coastal District and Districts Y1 through Y3 until fall chum salmon are likely to enter the river and closures are necessary. Chum salmon closures are being announced for each district based on the typical arrival time of Fall chum salmon. In Federal public waters, chum and coho fishing opportunities are limited to federally qualified subsistence users only. All permanent rural residents of the Yukon Area and Yukon River drainage (except residents of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, which is a Nonrural Area) are federally qualified subsistence users of salmon.
 

REGULATION:
Pursuant to 2-KS-01-24 and 2-KS-02-24, subsistence salmon fishing is closed for Chinook salmon.
Pursuant to 2-KS-11-24, subsistence fishing for summer chum salmon with selective gear only is allowed 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
 

50 CFR 100.27(e)(3)(ii) is further amended to read:

In federal public waters of the following areas, Chum Salmon subsistence fishing will close and only retention of coho, pink and sockeye salmon by federally qualified subsistence users in federal public waters will be allowed.
(A) Coastal District and District 1, which includes the Black River and the communities of
Chevak, Hooper Bay, Scammon Bay, Emmonak, Nunam Iqua, Alakanuk, and Kotlik:
(1) Effective 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 26, chum salmon fishing is closed. Chum salmon may not be retained from selective fishing gear. Gillnets larger than 4-inch are not allowed. Gillnets of 4-inch or smaller mesh may be used to target nonsalmon and are restricted to 60-feet or less in length and must be operated as a set net near shore.
(B) District 2, which includes Mountain Village, Pitka’s Point, St. Mary’s, Pilot Station, and Marshall:
Effective 12:01 a.m. Monday, July 29, chum salmon fishing is closed. Chum salmon may not be retained from selective fishing gear. Gillnets larger than 4-inch are not allowed. Gillnets of 4-inch or smaller mesh may be used to target nonsalmon and are restricted to 60-feet or less in length and must be operated as a set net near shore.
(C) District 3, which includes the communities of Russian Mission and Holy Cross:
Effective 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, July 31, chum salmon fishing is closed. Chum salmon may not be retained from selective fishing gear. Gillnets larger than 4-inch are not allowed. Gillnets of 4-inch or smaller mesh may be used to target nonsalmon and are restricted to 60-feet or less in length and must be operated as a set net near shore.

Dip nets, beach seines, manned fish wheels, and hook and line gear may be used to harvest nonsalmon and Pink, Sockeye, and Coho salmon. Chum and Chinook salmon must be released alive immediately.

In Federal public waters, salmon fishing opportunities are limited to federally qualified subsistence users only. Please see below maps for Federal public waters. Those fishing outside of Federal public waters do not need to be federally qualified subsistence users.
 

JUSTIFICATION:
The Chinook run is nearly complete in the lower river and no escapement goals will be met for Chinook salmon, therefore retention of this species is not allowed. Summer chum drainage-wide abundance has met the lower end of the escapement goal range of 500,000 to 1,200,000 fish. This indicates sufficient surplus of summer chum for subsistence harvest, however selective gear is required so that all Chinook salmon can be released. Fall chum salmon are not expected to comprise a large portion of the chum salmon entering the river until late July. The fall chum salmon preseason projection, based on the historical relationship between summer chum salmon and fall chum salmon run sizes, is for a run size of 405,000 fish. While the run projection is within the drainagewide escapement goal of 300,000–600,000 chum salmon, there is much uncertainty in the current projection due to lower than expected abundance of age-4 summer chum. Furthermore, in recent years, the poorer than average Canadian component of the fall chum run has meant that the Canada border passage objectives have not been met, even when drainage-wide run abundance has improved. Therefore, closures to the harvest of fall chum area may be warranted in the mainstem throughout the fall season.
 

Pursuant to Section 816 of ANILCA, this Emergency Special Action (2-FC-01-24) continues the selective fishing openings for summer chum salmon in the Federal public waters of the Coastal District and Districts 1-3 and announces closures to chum salmon harvest when fall chum are expected to arrive in each area.
 

CONSULTATION AND OUTREACH:
The Yukon River salmon outlooks and management strategies were discussed at the Eastern Interior, Western Interior, and Yukon Kuskokwim Delta Regional Advisory Council meetings; Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association (YRDFA) annual Preseason Fisheries Meeting; Yukon River Panel meeting; and Yukon River Intertribal Fish commission meeting. The Federal manager held formal preseason management strategy Government-to-Government Tribal Consultation meetings with Yukon River drainage Tribal Governments on April 1 and 2. Tribal Consultations will continue when possible and when requested by Tribal Governments. The Federal fishery outlook and management strategy was sent to all Yukon Tribal and City governments on May 10. Approximately 3,500 copies of the ADF&G and USFWS Preseason Outlook flier were mailed to Yukon River fishing households in May.

This action was taken following coordination with the ADF&G fishery managers. The fishing schedules announced here match those issued concurrently by the ADF&G in state waters (Fall Fishery Advisory Announcement #1). The Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Chairs for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Eastern Interior, Western Interior, and Seward Peninsula Regional Advisory Councils were notified as was the Chair and vice-chair of the Yukon River Intertribal Fish Commission. Review was provided by the Office of Subsistence Management.

Federal Subsistence Board by delegation to: 
Holly Carroll
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Yukon River Inseason Fisheries Manager
Northern Alaska Fish and Wildlife Field Office

For additional information concerning Yukon River Federal Special Actions contact Yukon River Federal Manager Holly Carroll at (907) 351-3029.
For information concerning State management actions, contact Yukon River Summer Season Manager, Deena Jallen, and Fall Season Manager, Christy Gleason, in Fairbanks at (907) 459-7274 or in Emmonak at (907) 949-1320.

If you’d like to receive emails and notifications on the Federal Subsistence Management Program you may subscribe for regular updates by emailing fws-fsb-subsistence-request@lists.fws.gov. Fishery special actions can be found online here: https://www.doi.gov/subsistence/fisheries-special-actions
Information about the Federal Subsistence Management Program may be found on the web at www.doi.gov/subsistence or by visiting www.facebook.com/subsistencealaska.

See Below for Special Action for Federal Public Waters in the Yukon River Drainage:
Communities and streams adjacent to the boundary of Federal lands are part of Federal waters, even on the opposite side of the river. For those fishing outside of Federal public waters, they do not need to be federally qualified subsistence users.