WASILLA -- The news just went from bad to worse this week for the Deshka River, one of the Valley's most popular king salmon fishing streams.
Starting Saturday morning, the river will be off limits to king salmon fishing for the rest of the season because of poor returns, state Fish and Game Department officials announced. The ban comes on the heels of an already limited season on the river in which fishing had been restricted to catch and release only for much of the week.
The reason for the all out ban is a dismal return of kings to the stream, which is located near Willow about 35 miles northwest of Anchorage.
As of Wednesday, only 865 kings had been counted passing through a weir located at Mile 7 of the stream, far less than the normal average of about 5,400 kings for this time of year. Even with the ban in place, the state projects -- at the current rate -- only about 5,600 kings might reach the spawning grounds. That's far below than the minimum escapement goal of 13,000 kings that biologists would like to see to ensure healthy future returns. Last year's king salmon return on the stream was also dismal.
In 2008, king salmon fishing was closed on the stream on June 20, and 7,533 kings eventually made it upstream to spawn -- the fewest since state biologists installed a weir on the river in 1995.
As recently as 2004, nearly 58,000 kings passed the Deshka weir.
In addition to the sport fishery closure, a commercial king salmon fishery in the northern district of Cook Inlet will be shut down for its final two regularly scheduled Monday commercial fishing periods. If the run improves enough that it appears the river might meet its escapement goal, the river could be reopened to sport fishing, the department said.
Return to adn.com for updates to this story.
By S.J. KOMARNITSKY
skomarnitsky@adn.com