Karluk River Chinook Collapse Triggers First Subsistence Closure

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed the Karluk River drainage to subsistence retention of Chinook salmon through December 31, 2026, after escapement counts fell to 93 fish in 2025. The biological escapement goal is 3,000 to 6,000 fish.

Emergency Order 4-FS-K-Sub-01-26 took effect May 7, 2026. It affects subsistence users in the Kodiak area. The order follows three consecutive years of record-low escapements: 379 fish in 2023, 76 in 2024, and 93 in 2025.

The Karluk River has been a Board of Fisheries stock of concern since it began chronically failing goals after 2001. Sport fishing has been closed since 2008. Closures extended into 2026 for both freshwater and saltwater areas on Kodiak Island's west side.

Subsistence users now join sport and commercial fishers under restrictions. The sport fishery in both freshwater and saltwater near the Karluk River drainage remains closed. Sport fishing closures from April 1 through July 25, 2025, prohibited king salmon fishing including catch and release. The commercial seine fishery in the Kodiak area is restricted to nonretention of Chinook salmon 28 inches or greater in length before July 6.

The department will monitor the Karluk Chinook salmon run through June and early July to determine if subsistence fishing is justified. The department operates a weir on the Karluk River to count returning salmon.

The department cited warm summers from 2018 to 2020 as a possible cause affecting parent year classes. The closure aims to protect spawning stocks for future fisheries in Southcentral Alaska's Kodiak region.

The Karluk River drainage includes the lagoon. Chinook salmon may not be retained in the subsistence fishery from 12:01 a.m. Thursday, May 7, 2026, until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, December 31, 2026.

The department issued Advisory Announcement 01 for Emergency Order 4-FS-K-Sub-01-26 at 4:00 p.m. on May 5, 2026.

The Karluk Chinook salmon biological escapement goal range is not expected to be achieved in 2026. Commercial salmon fishing in the Inner Karluk, Outer Karluk, Northwest Kodiak, and Southwest Afognak sections will remain closed from June 1 through July 5. Fishing will resume only after the early-run sockeye salmon escapement goal of 150,000 to 250,000 fish is exceeded.

The Ayakulik River, located on Kodiak Island, faces similar challenges with low Chinook returns and is also closed to king salmon sport fishing.

A U.S. District Court ordered NOAA Fisheries to decide by May 13, 2026, whether Gulf of Alaska Chinook warrant Endangered Species Act protection.

The Karluk River, located on the west side of Kodiak Island, has historically supported subsistence harvests for area communities.