The region has 34 stocks of king salmon and the board has listed seven as stocks of concern. That means for four years or more, those runs have not had enough fish making it back to spawn, or what managers call an escapement goal.
In 2017, the board named three rivers as stocks of concern: the Chilkat River near Haines; the King Salmon River, the region’s only naturally-occurring island stock on Admiralty Island; and the Unuk River near Ketchikan. In 2020, it added another four: the Stikine River near Wrangell along with one of its tributaries Andrew Creek; the Taku River near Juneau and the Chickamin near Ketchikan.
Staffers with Fish and Game sought board direction on the existing conservation measures, as well as additional steps that could curtail harvest further. Some fishermen sought a partial reopening of the shortened commercial winter troll season or other lifting of restrictions where fish are rebounding. But many thought conservation measures should continue. Ron Somerville of Juneau is with the Territorial Sportsmen, a sportfishing organization and made that case for the Taku and Stikine rivers.