Silver salmon are off the table on the Kuskokwim, and the decision came from Washington rather than Juneau.
Federal fisheries managers resumed control of salmon on Alaska's Kuskokwim River this month and issued an immediate emergency closure on coho harvest. It took effect 12 August at 5pm across federal public waters from the mouth up to Aniak, taking in spawning tributaries and the Aniak Box. Alaska's Department of Fish and Game had already closed coho on its own waters days before, citing the same sonar numbers.
Spencer Rearden, who manages the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, said the run is behaving like the worst year on the books. "Fifty percent of the run has already passed Bethel now, and could the numbers improve with some late runs? Absolutely. We want to open the river, but until the fish say we can, we're closed at this moment," Rearden told KYUK.
By 10 August about 96,000 coho had crossed the sonar below Kwethluk. The comparable 2022 figure — from the weakest return in more than 20 years — was around 86,000. "That's not a lot of difference when you're comparing poor numbers to poor numbers," Rearden said. A typical recent year would be running close to double that.
There was a reason to brace for it. Most coho arriving now were spawned in 2022, when returns cratered. "In 2022, that's the parent year for most of the coho salmon that we're seeing this year. And because those numbers were low, we did half expect them to come in low also," Rearden said.
He also flagged the limits of that logic. "In 2020, the runs were low, too, but four years later, in 2024, they were adequate enough that we relinquished authority," Rearden said. Weak parents have produced workable runs before.
Subsistence fishing does not stop entirely. Gillnets are prohibited and coho cannot be retained, but federally qualified subsistence users can still work dip nets, beach seines, fish wheels, and rod and reel in federal public waters, and can keep other salmon and non-salmon species.
The jurisdiction behind that rule has been fought over for four years. The federal government moved for an injunction against Alaska in May 2022; the state countered in September 2023; a federal judge backed the federal position in April 2024. Alaska petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in September 2025 for a ruling on what "public lands" means under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and in January 2026 the court declined to take it up, leaving federal authority over subsistence fishing on federal waters standing.
This closure is the practical result. The refuge manager determined federal management was needed "for conservation and for the continuation of subsistence uses for coho salmon within the Federal public waters of the Kuskokwim River drainage due to low abundance," according to an ADF&G release, which also noted that "the Federal in-season manager will consider announcing gillnet fishing opportunities for federally qualified subsistence users after evaluating conservation needs and consultation with partners."
Commercially, the year was thin before the fish failed to show. ADF&G reopened the Kuskokwim Bay commercial salmon fishery in early July and drew 70 permit holders — a fraction of the 700-plus seen in stronger eras. Fishermen told KYUK that low catch rates combined with transport and equipment costs put most of them underwater financially within weeks.
The closure follows a $1.8 million attorney-fee award won by Alaska Native corporations out of the same long-running management dispute.
At 724 miles the Kuskokwim is Alaska's second-longest river and the ninth-longest in the country, draining the Alaska Range into the Bering Sea. Coho recovered after 2022, which is the strongest reason for optimism available. Whether they repeat it depends on ocean conditions that neither state nor federal managers can regulate.
