Upper Cook Inlet (UCI) Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 14 opens commercial salmon fishing with set gillnets in the Kenai, Kasilof, and East Foreland sections of the Upper Subdistrict from 5:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, 2021.
As announced in UCI Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 4, gear restrictions are in place for all Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishermen from the beginning of the season through July 31, 2021. During the July 8 fishing period, legal gear in the entire Upper Subdistrict is restricted to no more than two set gillnets per permit that are each not more than 35 fathoms in length and 29 meshes in depth or no more than one set gillnet per permit that is not more than 35 fathoms in length and 45 meshes in depth. As a reminder, any set gillnet that is not more than 29 meshes in depth as part of this restrictive provision must be identified at the end of the gillnet with an attached blue buoy that is not less than nine and one-half inches in diameter.
Commercial salmon fishing with drift gillnets is open by regulation on Thursday, July 8, 2021, from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. District Wide in the Central District, except for the Chinitna Bay Subdistrict. This announcement extends drift gillnetting from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. and from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. to the Kasilof Section of the Upper Subdistrict only (not the Expanded Kasilof section) on Thursday, July 8, 2021.
All other set gillnet fisheries in Upper Cook Inlet, outside of the Upper Subdistrict, will fish the regularly scheduled period from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, 2021. As of July 6, the Kasilof River sockeye salmon run is 31% complete based on average run timing and projects a final escapement of more than 490,000 fish. The minimum biological escapement goal (BEG) for Kasilof River sockeye salmon of 140,000 has been achieved. Both Kenai River late-run large king and late-run sockeye salmon runs are too early in the season to project final escapement with a high degree of accuracy. The fishing time provided in this announcement is intended to harvest sockeye salmon returning to the Kenai and Kasilof rivers while minimizing harvest of Kenai River king salmon until the abundance of this stock can be projected with more certainty.
As announced in UCI Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 4, Kenai River Late-Run King Salmon Management Plan (5 AAC 21.359(e)(3)(B)) restricts the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery to no more than 48 hours per week by Emergency Order (EO), with a 36-hour continuous closure per week beginning between 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 7:00 a.m. Friday. With regularly scheduled fishing periods on Mondays and Thursdays no longer in effect in the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery, any and all fishing time may occur only via EO beginning June 20, 2021. With this fishing announcement, 48 hours of EO time will have been used for the week of July 4–July 10.
Fish harvested in the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery during this fishing period should be reported in statistical areas 244-21, 244-22, 244-31, 244-32, 244-41, or 244-42. Fish harvested in the drift gillnet fishery during this fishing period should be reported in statistical areas 244-60.