Representatives from both commercial and sport fishermen say more may be behind this year's poor salmon returns than just the accidental netting of unwated salmon, known as commercial bycatch.
As a result of poor salmon numbers this year, commercial and sport fishermen are both dealing with a handful of closed fisheries.
They say while it may be tempting to blame the low run on commercial fishermen accidentally netting the salmon, there's more likely a larger combination of reasons behind it.
I think it's ocean conditions, the ocean is warming, could it be a predator fish coming in, it could be over populating the areas with hatchery stocks that cause a lack of food," said Phil Cutler with the Alaska Sport Fishing Association.
"It's hard to say what's going on statewide right now, so many areas are affected," said Robert Williams with the Kenai Peninsula Fishermen's Association, representing commercial fishermen. "In the Lower 48, they have robust king salmon returns. That happens quite often, when the king salmon returns are big in the Lower 48, they're low up here."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says they're expecting a late migration of kings in the lower Yukon River this year. They say several atmospheric and temperature conditions can affect the timing of a salmon run.
