On Thursday, the state Department of Fish and Game issued an emergency order requiring that all Chinook salmon caught by sport fishermen in Southeast Alaska’s saltwaters between Monday and Oct. 1 be released unharmed because the seasonal allocation has been exceeded.

Two local fishing tour operators said Saturday they did not expect any impact on their business because not many king salmon are currently being caught anyway.

The agency’s decision is an unusual adjustment to preseason allocations for sport and commercial fishing, but is necessary because of catch limits set by the Pacific Salmon Treaty, Patrick Fowler, the agency’s southeast management coordinator for sport fisheries, said Friday.

“This is unique in that we are essentially nearing the end of the season here and there is a risk that Alaska could exceed its catch limit for all fishing gear. That’s when the commissioner stepped in and decided to ban catch limits in the sport fishing area,” he said.

A review and possible decision regarding the allocation of commercial fishing rights is expected in early September, Fowler said.

A statement from the agency said: “The sport fishery in Southeast Alaska has exceeded the 2024 allotted quantity of Chinook salmon established in the Southeast Alaska-Yakutat Area Chinook Salmon Allocation.” The emergency order states that Chinook salmon caught by sport fishermen “may not be retained or possessed; Chinook salmon caught must be immediately released and returned to the water unharmed.”

“Although the management plan aims to avoid changes to sport fishing regulations during the season, the projected end-of-season catch for the sport fishery is expected to exceed the combined sport and troll allocation,” the order states. “The magnitude of this over-allocation may not be offset by the remaining catch allocation in Alaska’s other fisheries. This action is necessary to prevent Alaska’s fisheries from exceeding the Alaska catch limit established in the Pacific Salmon Treaty through 2024.”

Chris Condor, owner of Rum Runner’s Sport Fishing Charters, said the order is unlikely to affect his business because the Chinook salmon fishery is “already pretty much done.”

“We’re only seeing Chinook salmon right now, smaller Chinook salmon,” he said. “And honestly, if we catch half a dozen between now and the end of September, it’s not going to affect our catch that much. We’re going to be targeting mostly Coho salmon at that point.”

Chinook salmon have been “short all season” and since the bag limit that ends Monday is one fish over 28 inches, it’s unlikely to affect business for the next five weeks, said Mike Bonfils, owner of Big Jim’s Charters. But he said the state should refund money to people who bought licenses to catch chinook salmon that they can no longer keep, especially given the bag limits already imposed.

“Many people who bought King stamps are upset,” he said.

Additional bans on salmon fishing have been enacted in the region and across the state this year and in recent years.

Chinook salmon fishing was already closed in many waters in the Juneau area by an order in effect from June 24 to August 31 due to low projected spawning populations following a landslide in 2020 that killed most of the Chinook salmon expected to return this year.

Other closures include an order that applies between March and the end of September to inland areas such as the Kuskokwim drainage area, the Yukon River drainage area and the Tanana drainage area. Salmon populations in these areas have declined in recent years.

There have also been legal challenges to salmon fishing, including a lawsuit by a Washington-based group seeking to ban commercial fishing of the species in Southeast Alaska. The group is also demanding that the federal government protect Alaska’s Chinook salmon under the Endangered Species Act.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at [email protected] or (907) 957-2306.