The State Fish and Game department anticipates another weak king salmon return to the Yukon River, and this spring announced the complete closure of commercial fishing. Add severe sport fishing limits to that now. No sport fishing on the Yukon, a bag limit of one fish in tributaries. The Tanana may be better, if enough fish get through to the Chena and Salcha rivers.
They have to crack down because of unmet treaty obligations up the Yukon in Canada. There are mesh limits along the coast, a complete closure of at least one subsistence fishing period early in the run, and according to River sport fish biologist John Burr, there may be a ban on selling any Kings caught incidentally in the subsistence chum fishery
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Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
