Fish & Game Area Biologist Tracy Hensen Gives The Scoop On This Year's Copper Valley Salmon Season

Salmon Have Been A Way Of Life & Sustenance In The Copper River Valley For Centuries 

The late Danny Ewan, at his fishwheel. (Photo by Copper River Country Journal, from the archives) 

MAY 22ND, 2026: 

I’m writing today to provide you with the first Copper River salmon management update of the 2026 season. Same as last year, my plan is to send these updates on a weekly basis (typically on Fridays) from now through July to provide insight on the data we have and how we are interpreting the salmon runs to offer transparency with our upriver management decisions. You are all receiving this email because you were included on last year’s email roster. If you would like to be removed from these weekly communications, please let me know. 

 

New in 2026: 

There are a few new things regarding Copper River salmon this season. First is that an Upper Copper River King Salmon Sport Fishery Permit is required for all sport anglers fishing for king salmon in the Upper Copper River drainage. This new king salmon permit is being implemented to improve the timeliness and accuracy of king salmon sport fishery harvest estimates and replaces the record of harvest typically recorded on your sport fishing license or harvest record card. This king salmon permit must be on your person, along with your fishing license and king salmon stamp, while out fishing, and all king salmon harvested that are 20 inches or larger must be immediately recorded on the permit. This permit has mandatory online reporting due by August 31, and permits must be reported online even if you did not fish or harvested no king salmon. Upper Copper River King Salmon Sport Fishery Permits are free of cost and can be obtained in person at ADF&G offices and at some private vendors, or through the ADF&G online store from your computer or ADF&G mobile app. Everyone sport fishing for king salmon in the Upper Copper River drainage must get this permit, including both residents and nonresidents, youth anglers, and those who have permanent fishing licenses such as seniors and disabled veterans.

 

Another change for this season is that counts of large king salmon collected at Miles Lake sonar will be the primary indicator of king salmon inriver abundance and used for the inseason management of the Upper Copper River subsistence, personal use, and sport fisheries this season. This is a change because for the past 25 years, the Native Village of Eyak mark–recapture project has served as the sole in-river abundance estimator for Copper River king salmon. Unlike the sonar, the mark-recapture project does not provide daily estimates of abundance and instead, capture and recapture rates are used inseason to project the number of king salmon in-river. Unfortunately, these projections are not considered reliable until the end of June, which is well after most of the king salmon run has entered the river. Additionally, the precision and accuracy of the estimates produced both inseason and post-season by the mark-recapture project can be highly variable because of ever-changing river conditions that impact fish wheel operations. In 2019, the department began using an ARIS telephoto lens at the Miles Lake sonar project. ARIS is an acronym for Adaptive Resolution Imaging Sonar. This ARIS technology allows for large king salmon to be identified from other salmon passing the site by measuring the length of the fish swimming past the sonar beam. Large king salmon are considered fish over 30.4 inches (772 mm) in total length. These counts provide daily estimates of the number of large king salmon in the Copper River beginning in mid/late-May (once sonar is operating and the ARIS lens deployed) and continuing through July. Overall, this transition represents an important modernization of Copper River king salmon assessment and reflects improvements in sonar technology and species apportionment methods that were not available when the mark–recapture program was first implemented approximately 25 years ago.

 

Lastly, a new project using sonar to count salmon in the lower Gulkana River will be conducted this summer in collaboration with Ahtna Inter-Tribal Resource Commission (AITRC). This project is to determine if ARIS sonar can be used to count large king salmon entering the Gulkana River. Because this is a feasibility study (meaning, is it even possible to do this?), data is not anticipated to be available inseason. Instead, data will be collected from June through mid-July, and all count data will be apportioned post-season.

 

2026 Copper River Salmon Forecasts and the Inriver Goal:

This season’s Copper River salmon forecast was released in January. Overall, the Copper River total run of sockeye salmon is forecasted to be average, with 1,455,000 sockeye salmon expected to return. The king salmon run is forecasted to be weak, with around 33,000 king salmon expected to return. With that being said, forecasts are simply that – a prediction or estimate of future events – in this case being the salmon runs. While they may not be correct 100% of the time, they do provide an outlook on what may happen and set the tone for the earliest stages of managing the salmon runs. 

 

The 2026 inriver goal was announced on May 1 and is set at 632,700 salmon. The inriver goal is defined in regulation under the Copper River District Salmon Management Plan. In very simplified terms, it is the number of fish that need to make it past the commercial fishery and enter the Copper River to allow for escapement needs and upriver harvests in the subsistence, personal use, and sport fisheries. The inriver goal is assessed by total salmon passage the Miles Lake sonar project. This annual goal is used to create the daily and cumulative management objectives for fish passage past Miles Lake.

 

Commercial Fishery:

The Copper River District commercial fishery opened for the season earlier today, Friday, May 22, for a 12-hour period with the Expanded Inside Chinook salmon closed waters in place. May 22^nd is the earliest the commercial fishery can open by regulation.

 

The Inside Closed waters and Expanded Inside Closed waters are terms many of you have likely heard for years but you might not be able to visualize these waters off the top of your head. Below are two images from the Division of Commercial Fisheries that show the Copper River District commercial fishing boundaries.

 

In the image below, the yellow line closest to shore is the normal, regulatory boundary of the Copper River District.  The Red Line is the Inside Closed waters boundary. This red line pushes the normal (yellow) boundary further out from the mouth of the Copper River to protect king salmon.  

 

 

This second image (below) shows the Expanded Inside closed waters shaded in blue. The Expanded Inside Closed waters include the entire Inside Closed waters PLUS pushes the commercial fishing boundary further offshore in the Eastern portion of the district. Both the Inside Closed waters and Expanded Inside Closed waters are defined in regulation and have been utilized in the commercial fishery for years to reduce the harvest of king salmon.

 

 

Last season, the commercial fishery managers implemented an even further offshore boundary in attempt to reduce king salmon harvest even more. At this time, it is unknown if a similar boundary will be needed or used this season.

 

Typically, commercial fishing periods in the Copper River District occur on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the fishing season. However, there are no specific days of the week set in regulation. Both Commercial and Sport Fish managers will be meeting tomorrow (Saturday) to discuss the outcome of this first opener. Potentially, a second period may occur as early as Monday, May 25 but that decision has not yet been made.  Commercial harvest data is posted online as it becomes available throughout the season:  Copper River Inseason Salmon Harvest Estimates, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

 

Miles Lake SONAR:

The Division of Commercial Fisheries crew from Cordova began mobilizing to the sonar site near the Million Dollar Bridge on May 11. There, two sonar units are used each season to count salmon as they swim up the Copper River: one on the north bank and one on the south bank. The north bank sonar was deployed for the first of the season on May 18 but has only been operating for 4 to 6 hours each day through May 20 due to ice flowing down the river. Yesterday (May 21), north bank sonar operations increased to 14 hours. The sonar biologist has reported that ice interactions have been decreasing along the north shoreline, so it is anticipated the north bank sonar will begin to operate continuously (24 hours/day) from here on out. Unfortunately, the south bank sonar has not yet been deployed, so no counts have been recorded from that side of the river. The south bank of the Copper River at the Million Dollar Bridge is subject to ice flowing out of Miles Lake and at this time, it is still too risky to deploy the sonar on the south bank because of the large ice chunks consistently flowing out and along that shoreline. The sonar crew will continue to monitor conditions and deploy the south bank sonar as soon as it is safe to do so. Those living locally in the Copper Basin already know that cool spring temperatures have resulted in a slower break-up than last year, so it is not too surprising that operations are running behind of last season.

 

To date, a total of 333 salmon have been counted past Miles Lake sonar. Counts to date should be considered partial counts due to the operational limitations. You can monitor the sonar counts, and how they compare to the anticipated or expected counts, by CLICKING HERE. Miles Lake sonar counts are also found on the Department’s Fish Counts webpage. 

 

Large king salmon apportioned counts are not yet available from the sonar project because they have not yet deployed the ARIS telephoto lens required for apportionment. The sonar crew anticipates deploying the ARIS lens needed to count large king salmon today on the north bank. Once the required lens is installed and operational, apportionment data collection can begin. Determining the number of large king salmon in the daily salmon passage counts take additional staff and time for processing, and this data processing timeline typically results in a 3-day lag time. This means counts of large king salmon passage will not be available on a next-day basis (like the unapportioned, total salmon counts) and instead will be updated as data becomes available. Large king salmon counts will be posted online on the Department’s Fish Counts webpage once we begin receiving them. 

 

Native Village of Eyak (NVE) Mark-Recapture Fish Wheels:

The Native Village of Eyak has mobilized to both their Baird Canyon and Canyon Creek fish wheel project sites. The Baird Canyon camp (located upstream of Miles Lake) is fully operational, and both of their fish wheels are spinning. The first king salmon captured at Baird Canyon were reported the morning of May 19, indicating the presence of king salmon inriver. Since then, only 2 king salmon have been captured and tagged. The upriver Canyon Creek camp is currently working on their fish wheels, likely preparing for deployment over the next several days as the river and shore-ice allows.

 

Gulkana River Counting Tower:

The Gulkana River Chinook salmon counting tower project is tentatively scheduled to begin June 3, although that is always influenced by river stage and if the flash panels can be installed at the current river flow and depth.  The tower crew will likely head upriver late next week to open up camp and begin installation. Once operational, the tower counts will be published on the Fish Counts webpage.

 

Copper River:

The Copper River stage gauge in Chitina is online.  You can view this yourself at the NOAA site. For the past week, the gauge reading has been averaging 10-11 feet, which is only a little bit higher than last year at this time but overall, still low for Chitina.

 

CHITINA SUBDISTRICT PERSONAL USE FISHERY:

The Chitina Subdistrict Personal Use salmon dip net fishery is tentatively scheduled to open at 12pm noon on Wednesday, June 10.  June 10^th is the earliest the personal use fishery can open by regulation. Miles Lake sonar counts from next week (May 25–31) will be used to determine personal use fishing time for June 10–14. The cool spring temperatures may delay fish entry into the river and could result in a delayed opening date in the personal use fishery if sonar counts are weaker than anticipated.

 

GLENNALLEN SUBDISTRICT SUBSISTENCE FISHERY:

The Glennallen Subdistrict subsistence salmon fishery opens on June 1 by regulation.  Federally qualified rural residents have been able to fish since May 15, although I have heard no reports of anyone fishing yet.

 

SPORT FISHERIES:

Salmon haven’t made it to the Gulkana or Klutina Rivers yet, so no sport fishing for salmon is occurring. We are still another 1-2 weeks away from when fish will likely being to arrive to our most popular rivers.

  

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR NOW:

Today’s (May 22) commercial harvest will provide some insight for both sockeye and king salmon. Hopefully, the south bank sonar at Miles Lake will be deployed over the next few days and sonar numbers will begin to ramp up over the next week. Presumably, another commercial fishing period will occur next week and will provide additional data but for now, we are in the beginning stages of the salmon runs and have little assessment data available.

 

Feel free to reach out with any questions and I look forward to bringing you more information next Friday. Wishing you all a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend.

 

-Tracy

 

 

Tracy R. Hansen

Area Management Biologist

Upper Copper/Upper Susitna 

Alaska Department of Fish & Game

Division of Sport Fish – Glennallen

907.822.3309