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Once again we are on the short end of the dip net. Today, June 4th, by emergency order, for the entire 2009 season, no king salmon can be kept as part of your Chitina dipnet bag limit. Meanwhile, the commercial fishery at Cordova is still fishing for king salmon. ADF&G says the dipnet king closure is a conservation decision to make sure there are enough kings to provide for upriver spawning escapement. It is our understanding that ADF&G will have a meeting to decide what restrictions will be needed for king sport fishing on the Gulkana and Klutina rivers. It appears for now that the only people who are looked at to protect the king salmon escapement are the "personal use" classified dipnetters and most likely sport fishermen.

As of this morning the Commercial Fish Division of ADF&G was going to have another commercial opening just off the mouth of the Copper River where a majority of the commercial king catch occurs (Editor's note: as several readers have commented, the intertidal areas, where most of the commercial king catch apparently takes place, have seen a reduction in fishing time to protect the fishery.). Subsistence fisheries above and below the Chitina dipnet boundary have taken no reduction in king bag limit. This is one reason why the Chitina Dipnetters Association has filed suit with the State of Alaska to return the dipnet fishery to subsistence status, giving it allocation priority over the commercial harvest of salmon.

If you value your ability to continue to harvest salmon in the dipnet fishery and put an end to being run over roughshod by commercial interests read of the lawsuit and donate what you can to see this suit to completion.