June 26th, 2026: Copper River Management Update. What's With The Salmon?

  Low Large King Salmon Run 
At Miles Lake Sonar Says Fish & Game 

Commercial Fishery:

No commercial fishing periods have occurred this week. The last commercial fishing period was held on June 11. Season total harvest in the Copper River District commercial fishery is 4,172 king salmon and 228,277 sockeye salmon.

 

For details on commercial fishery harvest, timing, assessments, and strategies, please refer to the Division of Commercial Fisheries’ Inseason Alaska Commercial Salmon Summary that is available online throughout the fishing season for all areas of the state, including information for Copper River and PWS Drift Gillnet fisheries. 

 

Miles Lake SONAR:

Daily salmon passage at Miles Lake sonar this season has been consistently below the anticipated daily management objective for nearly the entire season. Following that trend, daily salmon passage over the past 4 days has been about 1,000-3,000 fish fewer each day than anticipated.

 

Total salmon passage through yesterday, June 25, was 286,317 fish. This is about 89,000 less fish than the target cumulative management objective for this date. 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.

 

A total of 15,877 large king salmon have been counted at Miles Lake sonar through June 23. This is the lowest cumulative count of large king salmon on record for this date.

 

Large king salmon counts are available online on the Department’s Fish Counts webpage. Because of data processing constraints, counts of large king salmon passage are not available on a next-day basis like the unapportioned, total salmon counts. Large king salmon counts are posted online twice a week, typically on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

 

Native Village of Eyak (NVE) Fish Wheels:

Total catch at Baird Canyon this season has been below average and recapture rates at Canyon Creek have been higher than average for this time of the year, both indications that the run is weak.

 

Gulkana River Counting Tower:

The Gulkana counting tower has passed a total of 516 king salmon and 3,978 sockeye salmon through yesterday, June 25. Gulkana River fish counts can be tracked at the ADF&G Fish Counts webpage.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Copper River:

The Copper River stage gauge in Chitina is still offline. Until the gauge is fixed, I have no river level data to input into the usual figure I send along. The water has come up quite a bit over the past week, with some large fluctuations throughout the week, typically following hot, sunny days. 

 

CHITINA SUBDISTRICT PERSONAL USE FISHERY:

Because total salmon passage into the Copper River this season has been tracking well-behind the target management objectives, conservative management of the personal use fishery has been implemented this season.

 

The Chitina Subdistrict Personal Use salmon dip net fishery opened today, at 12:01 am, Friday, June 26 for a 72-hour period. The fishery will remain open through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, June 21. Dipnetters fishing in the Chitina Subdistrict are not allowed to keep any king salmon during the month of June in accordance with regulation.  

 

The Emergency Order announcing the fishing time for June 29 – July 5 was released this past Wednesday. The fishery will only be open for a 72-hour period beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 3 through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, July 5. Additionally, this Emergency Order also closes retention of king salmon in the dip net fishery for the entire season, meaning personal use dipnetters won’t be provided any opportunity to retain a king salmon this season.  

 

GLENNALLEN SUBDISTRICT SUBSISTENCE FISHERY:

The Glennallen Subdistrict subsistence salmon fishery is currently open through September 30 in accordance with regulation. No restrictions have been implemented in the subsistence fishery.

 

SPORT FISHERIES:

Due to concerns about returning king salmon numbers to the Copper River, an Emergency Order was released this week that reduced the sport fishery annual limit for king salmon to 1 fish. 

 

King salmon continue to move into the Gulkana River and are making their way upstream but overall fishing was reported as slow this week.  A rapid rise in water level June 24–25 has made the river very turbid and will likely impact fishing success for the next day or two until it begins to clears. Sockeye salmon are also entering the Gulkana River but most folks fishing for salmon there are focused on king salmon.

 

Sockeye salmon continue to enter the Klutina River but entry seems to be spotty and inconsistent. While anglers are reporting various levels of success, most agree that fishing is slower than normal for this time of year.

 

WHAT I AM THINKING NOW:

We continue to run significantly behind on the total number of salmon inriver and the salmon “deficit” grows each day. At the time of my last email, we were tracking about 83,000 salmon less than our objective and now a week later, we’re 89,000 salmon less than objective – meaning another 6,000 fish didn’t show up as expected over the past 7 days, even with no commercial fishing effort occurring over the past 2 weeks.

 

The cumulative salmon count through June 25 is the lowest on record since 2001. This year’s run is similar to weak run years of 2018 and 2020. In 2018, there were strong numbers of salmon in the second half of the run but in 2020, we weren’t as lucky. However in both of those years, we were able to meet the sockeye salmon spawning escapement goal and I am optimistic that we can once again achieve the goal this season. However, that comes at the cost of drastically reduced harvest in the personal use fishery. Unfortunately, my hopes of being able to avoid extended closures (like those in 2020) in the Chitina Subdistrict dip net fishery have diminished as current passage trended downward each day this week. As of now, I still do not anticipate any subsistence fishery restrictions or closures. 

 

King salmon passage at Miles Lake this season is low. Because of that, management actions aimed at reducing king salmon harvest in the sport and personal use fisheries were taken this week. King salmon sport fishing is still only open on the Gulkana River, as the Klutina and Tonsina Rivers do not open by regulation until July 1. Additional restrictions are inevitable in the king salmon sport fishery moving forward and it can be expected that another Emergency Order will be released next week.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. Please reach out with any questions.

 

Tracy R. Hansen

Area Management Biologist

Upper Copper/Upper Susitna 

Alaska Department of Fish & Game

Division of Sport Fish – Glennallen

907.822.3309