The concern in the proposal was that spawning sheefish populations would suffer from hooking mortality. The fish were caught using sport fishing gear with both single and treble hooks. The sheefish were held for 48 hours. All fish left alive were released. If hooking mortality is added to the estimated Kobuk River sport fish catch, total sport fish harvest would still be under 1,000 sheefish.
Subsistence harvests are relatively high when compared to the total sport fish harvest.
Proposal 130 in its original form asked for the abolishment of catch and release fishing in the Unalakleet River . The BOF approved an amended form of Proposal 130, which establishes a special provision for salmon species only in the Unalakleet River Drainage. In the Unalakleet River drainage, any salmon removed from the water shall be retained and becomes part of the bag limit of the person originally hooking it. A person may not remove a salmon from the water before releasing it. After taking a bag limit of coho salmon from the Unalakleet River drainage, a person may not sport fish for any species of fish downstream from the South River for the remainder of that same day.