The Kenai City Council passed a resolution at their most recent meeting on Jan. 15, requesting an economic disaster declaration from Governor Mike Dunleavy for the 2024 East Side Set Net Fishery.
According to the resolution, the limited harvest and fishing opportunities resulted in a nearly 99% loss of the ESSN’s traditional harvest, a result which the city says “threatens the livelihood of the individuals, families, and businesses participating in the fishery, and jeopardizes the continued viability of the commercial fishing industry in the Upper Cook Inlet Region.”
Kenai Peninsula Fisherman’s Association President Andy Hall has been involved in the fishery since 1982. He says these economic disasters in the ESSN are becoming “all too familiar” and adds that although disaster declarations have been made in previous years, he and other fishers have yet to see any compensation.
“I don’t see an end to them given the current state of king salmon and the management of the fishery,” Hall said via Zoom during the council meeting. “These funds are vital to keeping our fishermen active and hopefully in place when this disaster passes. Despite all of your support beginning in 2018, we still haven’t seen a penny. We’re hoping the process is in place, the applications have been submitted, and we hope to see money this year and for those in 2018 and 2020.”
The resolution specifically calls on Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development Commissioner Julie Sande to recommend to the Governor that he declare the 2024 fishery an economic disaster and ” implement a recovery plan that provides private assistance and takes other actions that benefit commercial fisheries, participants and others that rely on this important fishery resource.”
A comment period for the initial draft spend plan for the 2021-2022 ESSN fisheries disaster relief opened last summer and closed on Jul. 24, 2024. At that time, Darion Jones from the Department of Fish and Game Fisheries Disaster Division said if disaster relief funds are administered, a portion is divided amongst “participants like harvesters…that have suffered from that loss as well through the loss of their fish taxes.” The rest of the funds are allocated to research for management planning and approaches to avoid future disasters.
Jones said approximately 10% of the funds go to research, 3-5% go to communities, and the remainder is allocated to harvesters and processors.