(Glennallen) – The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is restricting sport fisheries in the Upper Copper River drainage for king salmon conservation.

Effective 12:01 a.m. Thursday, June 25, the annual limit for king salmon 20 inches or greater in length in the Upper Copper River drainage will be reduced from four to one fish. Any king salmon harvested from the Upper Copper River drainage prior to June 25 do not count toward the one fish annual limit.

The Copper River King Salmon Fishery Management Plan (5 AAC 24.361) directs the department to manage the Copper River fisheries to achieve a sustainable escapement goal of 21,000–31,000 king salmon. The 2026 king salmon run to the Copper River appears to be weak. As of June 20, a total of 15,243 large king salmon have been counted past the Miles Lake sonar. This is the lowest, large king salmon cumulative count on record for this date since species apportionment at the sonar project began in 2019. The Native Village of Eyak (NVE) fish wheel capture rates at Baird Canyon and fish wheel recapture rates at Canyon Creek also indicate low abundance. Because king salmon abundance may be insufficient to allow unrestricted harvest in the sport fishery and achieve the lower end of the escapement goal, restricting the Upper Copper River drainage king salmon sport fishery is warranted.

The department will continue to evaluate inseason run strength and take appropriate management actions to meet the Copper River king salmon sustainable escapement goal.

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