Anchorage Daily News
Mike Williams Sr. and Walt Pasternak
January 29, 2026
Picture this: A person subsistence fishing on the Kuskokwim chooses to fish for salmon to sustain their family when the river is closed. They risk having their net, buoy and harvest confiscated by federal or state wildlife officials. If that happens, they then have to travel away from home to Bethel, which could be hours away by boat or hundreds of dollars away by plane, to retrieve their gear. They probably will have to pay a fine or maybe serve some jail time. Their catch will be gone.