The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has reduced the bag limit for coho salmon on the Little Susitna River to one fish, effective Thursday.
According to Fish and Game, projections for the Coho run on the Little Susitna will be below the minimum sustainable escapement goal. Escapement goal refers to the number of fish that make it upstream to spawn.
This is the latest restriction on salmon fishing within the Mat-Su. Earlier this month, Fish and Game shut down all salmon fishing on Larson Creek.
Many of the weir counts in the area show salmon returns below last year. There are a couple of exceptions, however. On the Deshka River, Chinook salmon returns were slightly higher than in 2019, and were above the minimum sustainable escapement total. The Deshka’s sockeye run is currently higher than where it was last year, but it’s not certain how strong the run will ultimately be. The opposite is true on the Little Susitna, where timing of the run is similar, but the number of fish is significantly lower than what is was this time last year.
More information on current regulations and emergency orders is available from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
