UPDATED King Salmon Sport Fishing Regulations EFFECTIVE April 2, 2019

CORRECTED: Southeast Alaska Regional King Salmon Sport Fishing Regulations For 2019

Juneau - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is announcing the 2019 sport fishing regulations for king salmon in Southeast Alaska and Yakutat. These regulations will be effective 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2019 through 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 1, 2020. The regulations are:

• Alaskan Resident
  • The resident bag and possession limit is one king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length.
• Nonresident
  • The nonresident bag and possession limit is one king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length;
  • From January 1 through June 30, the annual limit is three king salmon 28 inches or greater in length;
  • From July 1 through December 31, the annual limit is one king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length, and any king salmon harvested from January 1 through June 30 will apply toward the one fish annual limit;
  • Immediately upon landing and retaining a king salmon a nonresident must enter the species, date and location, in ink, on the back of their sport fishing license or on a nontransferable harvest record.

The king salmon nonretention periods in the Haines, Skagway, Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan areas, announced on January 7, 2019, are still in effect in order to protect wild Alaska king salmon stocks.

The Southeast Alaska king salmon sport fishery is managed under the directives of the Southeast Alaska King Salmon Management Plan (5 AAC 47.055). This plan prescribes management measures based upon the Southeast Alaska Winter Troll CPUE. The Southeast Alaska Winter Troll CPUE for the 2019 season is 3.38 which equates to 25,844 king salmon allocated to the sport fishery. To address the implementation of the new treaty agreement which includes provisions to reduce the Alaska harvest ceiling the following year if the Alaska harvest ceiling is exceeded, the Southeast Alaska king salmon fisheries will be conservatively managed. This equates to a sport fishery harvest target of 25,300 treaty king salmon in 2019. The projected 2019 sport harvest of treaty king salmon is expected to be 21,900-22,500 fish. This is based on:

1. the estimated treaty harvest of king salmon in 2018 was 21,300 fish;
2. the same regional management and conservative wild stock management provisions in 2018 will be implemented in 2019; and
3. the implementation of a two fish resident bag limit in areas closed for wild stock management when they reopen is estimated to increase harvest by 600-1,200 treaty king salmon.

The Southeast Alaska king salmon fishery will be monitored inseason and management action will be taken if needed to keep the sport fishery within the sport allocation. Additional opportunity to harvest Alaska hatchery-produced king salmon in the Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan areas beginning in June will be announced in May.

For further information regarding sport fisheries in Southeast Alaska, contact the nearest ADF&G office or visit: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingSportFishingInfo.eonr