Commercial and sport fishermen in Juneau are preparing for a limited king salmon season as officials recorded the lowest ever salmon returns on the Taku River.
The Juneau Empire reports that in the 27 years of recorded data on the Taku River, escapement numbers have averaged nearly 42,000 fish.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials expect only about 12,000 Taku River chinook salmon to make it to the spawning grounds this year, well below their goal of at least 19,000.
Wildlife officials have restricted gillnetters from setting their nets in the western half of Taku Inlet, cutting them off from a large portion of lucrative fishing grounds. Gillnet fishing opened Sunday.
Sport fishing on the Taku River was shut down June 2.
Correction: A previous version of this story was attributed to the wrong author.
