2020 Yukon River Salmon Summer Fishery Announcement #1

Subsistence and Personal Use Permits Available Online
Districts Affected: Upper Yukon Area

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is strongly encouraging Yukon Area fishermen to obtain subsistence and personal use permits online at www.adfg.alaska.gov/store, by mail application, or by phone. Permit holders that received a 2019 permit will receive a 2020 permit application in the mail starting this week. Subsistence and personal use fishermen are required to have a printed household permit prior to fishing in portions of the upper Yukon River drainage, the Tanana River drainage, and a portion of the Koyukuk River (see figures below). To obtain a permit or ask questions, contact the Fish and Game office in Fairbanks at (907) 459-7274.

04/24/2020

Last edited 01/25/2022

Contact Information

Jeff Estensen, Area Management Biologist

(907) 459-7274

Toll free fishing schedule and counts: (866) 479-7387

In Fairbanks fishing schedule hotline: 459-7387

If you are unable to obtain a permit by the means above, permits can be provided in-person Monday through Friday during regular business hours at local Fish and Game offices in Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Tok, and Anchorage. If you plan to visit an office, we are taking measures to protect everyone’s health by not allowing more than two visitors at a time into the customer service areas. All visitors and staff are expected to practice current state-mandated social distancing requirements while conducting in-person transactions.

All harvest must be reported on your permit. If you are fishing outside of a permit area, subsistence harvest is reported through the subsistence harvest survey process, or by sending us your subsistence survey calendar. Contact the Fairbanks office to obtain a subsistence survey calendar.

We would like to thank all the households who have returned their previous permits and participated in the subsistence salmon surveys. Documenting the Yukon River Area subsistence and personal use harvest has been successful because of the cooperation of fishermen.

Fishermen can discuss the 2020 Yukon Area management strategies with the managers at a preseason meeting teleconference at 1:00 p.m. May 12 hosted by the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association. To join the teleconference, call 1-800-315-6338 and enter passcode 98566# (Yukon #).

Koyukuk River Permit Areas:

A subsistence fishing permit is required for all species in the Koyukuk River (District 4) above Bettles including the community of Wiseman.

Yukon River Permit Areas:

A subsistence fishing permit is required to fish for all species in the following locations: from the westernmost tip of Garnet Island upstream to the mouth of Dall River (includes Rampart and Dalton Highway Bridge Area; Subdistrict 5-C and a portion of Subdistrict 5-D) and the upstream mouth of 22 Mile Slough to the U.S./Canada border (includes Circle and Eagle; a portion of Subdistrict 5-D).

Tanana River Permit Areas:

A fishing permit is required to fish for all species in the Tanana River drainage (Figure 1). In the Tanana River up to the Wood River (Kantishna River and Subdistricts 6-A and 6-B) a subsistence permit is required for salmon fishing. A subsistence permit is also required for all species in the “Upper Tanana River” area from the confluence with the mouth of Volkmar River on the north bank, and the mouth of the Johnson River on the south bank, upstream to the Tanana River headwaters (Figure 2). A Tolovana Drainage Northern Pike Subsistence permit is required for this fish species in Minto Flats and the lower portion of the Chatanika River to the Fairbanks Non- subsistence Boundary near Murphy Dome boat landing (not shown on the figures).

A personal use salmon fishing permit and sport fish license are required to fish in Subdistrict 6-C from the Wood River upstream to the Salcha River, not including the Wood River (Figure 2).

A personal use permit is required to fish for whitefish and suckers in the Fairbanks Non-Subsistence area (from the Wood River upstream to the mouth of the Volkmar River on the north bank and the mouth of the Johnson River on the south bank; Figure 2). Contact the Fairbanks office to apply for a permit for the whitefish and sucker fishery.

Figure 1: Yukon Area Fishing Districts and Subdistricts and the “Upper Tanana River”.

Figure 2: Permit Areas of the Yukon River drainage. Subsistence permits are required in the dark gray shaded areas of the Yukon River. Subsistence or personal use permits are required in the Tanana drainage (light gray shaded area). If you are fishing outside of a permit area, subsistence harvest is reported through the subsistence harvest survey process, or by sending the Fairbanks office your subsistence survey calendar.

This is an announcement by the ADF&G in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. To reach the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Fairbanks call 456-0406.

News releases and fishery information will be shared on Facebook at www.facebook.com/YukonRiverFishingADFG

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