The disastrous 2018 sockeye salmon run continues to claim its victims. First, Cook Inlet commercial fishermen were ordered to take their nets from the water, and then on Sunday it was the Kenai River dipnetters.
Now, in an emergency order from Fish and Game, sports fishing for sockeye salmon is closed on the Kenai River from its mouth to Kenai Lake, starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
There is still an exception around the confluence of the Russian River to fish that river’s late run sockeye, which looks good with an escapement of 70,000.
The same rational for closing the sockeye sports fishery as was used for closing the other fisheries is the reason for this closure: A very real chance that the lower end of the sustainable escapement goal of 700,000 sockeye will not be reached without a reduction in harvest.
Through July 30, an estimated 434,560 sockeye have escaped.
