According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, commercial fishermen in the Upper Cook Inlet are experiencing a below-average season thus far.
Brian Marston, commercial fisheries management biologist, has details on where the numbers stand relative to previous years: “It’s less than half of the average, for sure. Well, the ten year average, too. It’s less than half of the ten-year average. We have that off-shore test fishery off Anchor Point and it did have two good days the last two days, so that tells me that there’s a new pulse of fish coming in. We’ll just have to see where they end up, whether they end up in Kasilof, or Kenai, or both. I guess the ray of good hope is the OTF has been high for the last couple of days.”
He says that the glimmers-of-hope for the season could start to show within the next few days, as they tend to be heavy harvest days, but that it is tough to assess the exact time frame where improvements will be seen: “We have a rule of thumb: four to seven days. It depends a lot on tides, so I would think that the southern end of the fishery is closer to the four day idea, whereas the northern end around the East Forelands is closer to seven. It’s hard to say; the tides are kinda weak right now, so that tends to slow them down. They don’t get pushed as fast by the tide, but I guess four or five to seven days is what you could say.”
Upper Cook Inlet fishery managers will continue closely monitoring the area and are optimistic about the harvest.