Kenai River king salmon restrictions are still in place but the numbers of kings passing the sonar is promising.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Biologist Jason Pawluk said as of July 9, 2,875 fish have passed the sonar, which is an estimated 7-9% of the run.
Pawluk: “Our escapement goal is 15,000 – 30.000 king salmon. Right now it’s encouraging, we’re better than we have been over the past couple of years, the previous two years at this point and time we had about 1,200-1,300 kings. So we’re more than double that but we’re keeping an eye on if this could be similar to the early run in that it might be three to five days early.”
He said each week the department reviews the data to determine if the king restrictions might be lifted this summer.
Pawluk: “But it’s just too early to tell right now but it is an encouraging start and we’re going to just stick to the current restrictions we have right now which allows for a harvest fishery of king salmon downstream of Slikok Creek, it’s no bait.”
Dipnetters are prohibited from keeping kings; Pawluk described how to identify a king.
Pawluk: “When they’re that small, as in the same size of the sockeye, you’re looking for black spots on the dorsal side of the body and then on the upper and lower caudal fin, or the tail fin. You’re looking for black spots in the gum-line of the fish’s mouth, should be all black. Whereas the sockeye doesn’t have that all black gum line, it’s got a lot of white and light gray in it.”