Anchorage’s popular Ship Creek will be closed to all sport fishing for two weeks, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Wednesday. The closure starts at 6 a.m. Saturday.
Fish and Game area management biologist Brittany Blain-Roth says officials hope the closure will help maintain salmon stock numbers at the William Jack Hernandez Fish Hatchery.
“The overarching goal is that we get enough brood stock up there to make sure we can meet the goals to be able to continue having fish, king salmon specifically, available down the road for anglers to harvest,” Blain-Roth said.
Ship Creek — the world’s only urban king salmon fishery — will reopen to sport fishing at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, July 14. But, Blain-Roth said, king salmon runs have been slow in recent years, and anglers will not be allowed to keep their daily limit of one king salmon that they normally could.
“If we get some sort of indicator otherwise, we can revisit to see about opening it up to retention again,” Blain-Roth said. “But to be on the precautionary side, we will be keeping it closed to kings just throughout the rest of the season.”
For Anchorage fishermen hoping to catch a king this summer, Blain-Roth said they can still fish through Friday at Ship Creek during the normal fishing hours. Additionally, she said, the Eklutna Tailrace area near the Knik River remains open to king salmon fishing.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
