Districts Affected: Norton Sound, Northern Norton Sound
Commercial salmon fishing will be permitted in Subdistricts 2 and 3, the Golovnin Bay and Moses Point Subdistricts, of the Norton Sound District for one 48-hour period from 6 p.m. Friday, August 7 to 6 p.m. Sunday, August 9. Permit holders are limited to 100 fathoms of net in aggregate length and gillnets must have a mesh size of 6 inches or less.
Golovnin Subdistrict salmon escapements are monitored at a tower located on the Niukluk River, a tributary of the Fish River. As of August 5, a total of 456 cohos have been enumerated at the Niukluk River tower, which is below the recent 5-year average count of 762 cohos, and below the 10-year average of 477 cohos. While below average, Niukluk River coho passage estimates indicate that the projected escapement will range from 2,800 to 6,800 cohos, depending on whether the run has early or average run timing. The Niukluk River tower escapement goal range is 2,600-6,200 cohos. The average quarter point of the Niukluk River coho run is August 14.
In the Moses Point Subdistrict, the largest salmon producers are the Kwiniuk and Tubutulik Rivers. The department operates a counting tower on the Kwiniuk River cooperatively with Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation. The Kwiniuk River tower has been in operation since 1965, but has only operated through coho salmon season since 2001. Through August 5, cumulative coho salmon passage at the Kwiniuk River tower is 465 cohos, well below the recent 5 and 10-year average counts for early August. However, age class information collected from the 2008 Moses Point commercial catch showed a high proportion of 3-year old cohos in the run indicating good survival for the 2005 brood year, the parent year of this year’s run. Additionally, as in 2008, low water levels and easterly winds could be delaying major movements of coho salmon into the Kwiniuk and Tubutulik River drainages this season. The average quarter point of the Kwiniuk River coho run is August 12.
This brief period with limited fishing effort will allow for commercial harvest of coho salmon without jeopardizing coho salmon escapement or subsistence fishing needs. It will also provide a good index of silver salmon abundance in the Golovnin Bay and Moses Point Subdistricts.
