(Ketchikan) – The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish announced today that the bag and possession limit for all anglers in three Ketchikan designated hatchery sport harvest areas, is one king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length. For nonresidents, the annual limit is three king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length. The areas are defined as follows:

Thomas Basin

Open June 1 – June 14, 2022: seaward of the Stedman Street Bridge to the breakwater.

 

Mountain Point Area

Open June 8 – June 14, 2022: the waters of George and Carroll Inlets north of a line from Mountain Point at 55°17.57′ N. lat., 131°32.41′ W. long, to Cutter Rocks Light at 55°17.34′ N. lat., 131°31.47′ W. long, to 55°17.57′ N. lat., 131°28.18′ W. long, and all waters of George Inlet and Carroll Inlet are open. (see attached map).

 

Neets Bay

Open June 15 – Aug 14, 2022: The waters east of the longitude of the easternmost tip of Bug Island.

The Alaska Board of Fisheries authorized the department to use its emergency order authority to open terminal harvest areas to target surplus Alaska hatchery king salmon. The areas opened by this emergency order will allow anglers to target Alaska hatchery-produced king salmon originating from the Deer Mountain Hatchery, Whitman Lake Hatchery, Neets Bay Hatchery, and the Carroll Inlet remote release. Projected returns to these facilities will exceed broodstock needs, thus a surplus of hatchery fish is available for harvest by sport anglers. A separate advisory announcement includes information for the Herring Bay area.

The Mountain Point Area opening date is delayed by one week to allow more Unuk River king salmon to return to the river to spawn. The Unuk River escapement is forecasted to be around 1,891 fish which is just above the lower bound of the escapement goal (1,800 – 3,800). A weak return of the 5-year-old fish, the dominant age class returning to the Unuk River is expected. There is an additional concern because this age class experienced poor freshwater survival and no marine recoveries have been encountered to date.

Anglers are reminded that until June 15 (Thomas Basin and Mountain Point) and August 15 (Neets Bay) the salt waters outside of the designated hatchery sport harvest areas are closed to king salmon retention. Therefore, anglers fishing in multiple areas for other species must be diligent to ensure they do not possess king salmon when fishing in areas that prohibit the retention of king salmon.

For further information concerning this announcement please contact Ketchikan Area Management Biologist, Kelly Reppert at (907) 225-2859.