{"id":12340,"date":"2018-03-30T00:16:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T07:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/king-fishing-cut-adfg-announces-conservative-juneau-fishing-plan\/"},"modified":"2018-03-30T00:16:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T07:16:00","slug":"king-fishing-cut-adfg-announces-conservative-juneau-fishing-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/king-fishing-cut-adfg-announces-conservative-juneau-fishing-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"King fishing cut: ADFG announces conservative Juneau fishing plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
It’s not time yet for king salmon fishermen to dust off the downriggers and sharpen the hooks. According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game regulations announced Thursday, anglers will have to wait until June 15 to keep king salmon caught in the Juneau area.<\/p>\n
Starting April 1, it’ll be illegal to retain a king salmon in most Juneau area waters and fishermen are expected to release king salmon immediately. Those regulations will lift on June 15, when fishing regulations will go back to normal.<\/p>\n
ADF&G’s plan for Juneau follows conservation measures, Chinook “action plans,” implemented across Southeast this year to protect record low-returns of wild king salmon on several Southeast river systems.<\/p>\n
“Essentially, the Southeast wild stocks have been in a period of low productivity and these restrictions are designed to reduce or eliminate harvest,” sport fish biologist Daniel Teske told the Empire by phone Thursday.<\/p>\n
About 4,700 adult king salmon are expected to return to spawn on the Taku River. That would be an all-time low, according to ADFG records. A majority of Southeast rivers are also experiencing low returns, ADFG’s Thursday announcement states.<\/p>\n