The first year of the Ninilchik Traditional Council’s Kasilof River subsistence gillnet closed July 31.
Kenai U.S. Fish and Wildlife Field Supervisor Jeff Anderson said the 60 foot wide gillnet was placed in-river above the Tustumena Lake Boat Launch.
Anderson: “It did have cork floats or Styrofoam floats across the top of the net so it was visible. And it was fished for about 30 minutes at a a time and they would pull it in, check the net, get the fish out and reset it.”
223 sockeye salmon were harvested and divided amongst qualified rural residents of Ninilchik.
No kings were caught, only sockeye, pink salmon, a dolly varden, and a lake trout.
Anderson said two experimental nets were approved for the peninsula last January but the Kenai River net was not fished because on concerns for king salmon.
Anderson: “As the in-season Manager I issued a special action to close fishing on the Kenai River to protect early run Chinook Salmon within federal waters for federal subsistence users. All other fisheries were closed in that stretch of the river.”
The Kasilof gillnet will fish for the next five years but the experimental Kenai gillnet does not have an expiration date.
The Office of Subsistence Management received a slew of requests for reconsideration about the Kenai net, which are still being reviewed.
