2026 Fishing Information
Photo: Courtesy of Leona Burnett
KRITFC In-Season Managers, Executive Council members, Elder Advisors, and staff are actively working with our collaborative management partners at Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge to prepare for the upcoming salmon season.
Our KRITFC-Yukon Delta NWR team will rely on in-season indicators of salmon abundance to guide our management, including Traditional Knowledge. Our goal remains to provide as many opportunities for federally qualified subsistence fishing as we can while using a conservative, precautionary approach to get as many spawners to the gravel as possible.
Keep afloat of fishing information this season! Follow us on Facebook, sign up for our email newsletter, join our weekly in-season teleconferences, and check back to this page for regular updates as the season progresses.
You can also keep up with fishing information this season by…
Joining Weekly Public Meetings:
KYUK Fish Talk: Mondays @ 1pm
KRITFC River-Wide Teleconference: Tuesdays @ 10am
ADFG Salmon Management Working Group: Wednesdays @ 10am
Contacting Your Managers for More Information:
KRITFC Office: call or text us at 907-545-7388 or email info@kritfc.org
Yukon Delta NWR Fish Info Hotline: call 907-543-3151 to listen to recorded messages of federal opener announcements
Yukon Delta NWR Office: call 907-302-5144 to speak to a human
ADFG Bethel Office: call 907-459-7295 or 907-543-2433
Visiting our Partners’ Websites:
Quyana! Dogidinh! Chin’an! Tsen’anh! Thank you!
Federal Management Actions
04-KSCS-26-01: Kuskokwim River Federal Public Waters Closed to Gillnets and the Harvest of Chinook, Chum, and Coho Salmon (issued May 20, 2026; effective June 1, 2026)
First Announcement for Kuskokwim River Fishing Opportunities (issued May 22, 2026)
To receive Federal Subsistence Management Program announcements by email, contact fws-fsb-subsistence-request@lists.fws.gov to sign-up.
State Management Actions
For the Kuskokwim River:
Subsistence fishing:
Kuskokwim River Fishery Announcement #1: Kuskokwim River Subsistence Fishery Outlook and Preliminary Management Strategy (posted May 19, 2026)
Kuskokwim River Fishery Announcement #2: Kuskokwim River Subsistence Fishery Front-End Closure Emergency Order #3-S-WR-01-26 (issued June 3, 2026)
Kuskokwim River Fishery Announcement #3: Kuskokwim River Subsistence Fishery Emergency Order #3-S-WR-03-26 (Issued June 9, 2026)
Sport fishing:
Advisory Announcement EO#:3-KS-V-06-26: Aniak River Drainage Closed to Sport Fishing for King Salmon (issued June 3, 2026. Expires July 25, 2026)
For the Kuskokwim Bay:
Kuskokwim Bay Fishery Announcement #1: Kuskowkim Bay Fishery Outlook (issued June 2, 2026)
Kuskokwim Bay Fishery Announcement #2: District 4 Subsistence Fishery Emergency Order #3-S-WB-01-26 (issued June 2, 2026)
To sign up to receive Alaska Department of Fish & Game advisory announcements by email, sign up here.
2026 Harvest Stimates (Between EEk and Tuluksak)
June 2, 2026: Set net opportunity from 7AM to 11PM
June 5, 2026: Set net opportunity from 7AM to 11PM
June 9, 2026: Set net opportunity from 7AM to 11PM
South Alaska Peninsula (Area M) Salmon Harvest Estimates
The annual June Area M fisheries are known for intercepting Western and Interior Alaska salmon migrating from the Gulf of Alaska to the Bering Sea. These are total numbers of salmon bycatch and not Kuskokwim-specific salmon. In recent years, Western and Interior Alaska salmon have made up ~25% of overall chum salmon landings in the Area M June fishery, and ~20% of Chinook salmon caught in this fishery are from Kuskokwim/Bristol Bay stocks.
The Area M June fishery has started for the 2026 season. As of June 10, 2026, the South Peninsula fisheries report they have harvested and sold 124 Chinook salmon and 51,255 chum salmon. (Note that there are no onboard observers in the Area M fishery.)
BREAKING NEWS: On May 20, 2026 the State of Alaska Attorney General’s office voided actions taken by the Board of Fisheries in February 2026 that would have restricted the Area M fishery to protect migratory Western Alaska salmon stocks. Read more about this here.
This state fishery is managed by the Alaska Board of Fisheries and Alaska Department of Fish & Game.
AREA M 2026 FISHING SCHEDULE
June 2026 Area M schedule; click to enlarge.
July 2026 Area M schedule; click to enlarge.
Bering Sea Salmon Bycatch Report
Commercial groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea, including pollock and bottom trawl fisheries, catch non-target species like Chinook and chum salmon when fishing. On average, ~50% of all Chinook salmon and ~20% of all chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery are of Western and Interior Alaska origin.
As of June 11, 2026, Bering Sea groundfish fisheries have started the B Season. Vessels have reported bycatch of 11,582 Chinook salmon (9,631 fish from pollock vessels) and 879 chum salmon (182 fish from pollock vessels).
BREAKING BYCATCH NEWS: Recently published genetic analyses from 2024 and 2025 Chinook salmon bycatch show that 48.7% (3,920 fish) of the Chinook salmon by-caught by pollock trawlers in 2024 were from Kuskokwim/Bristol Bay stocks; in 2025, these stocks were 63.7% of the bycatch (12,619 fish). These are the first reports using a new genetic baseline that distinguishes Kuskokwim/Bristol Bay stocks from other Western Alaska stocks, and the amounts of our region’s fish caught and killed in this fishery are staggering.
These federal fisheries are managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) and NOAA Fisheries.
2026 Fishing News
ADF&G announced the end to the front-end closure for state waters of the Kuskokwim River.