Upper Cook Inlet (UCI) Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 19 opens commercial fishing with drift gillnets in Drift Gillnet Area 1, the Expanded Kenai, Expanded Kasilof, and Anchor Point sections of the Central District from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Monday, July 18, 2022.
As a reminder no Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishing periods will be opened unless the Kenai River late run king salmon abundance improves. 5 AAC 21.359(d)(3) Kenai River Late-Run King Management Plan states that if the projected late-run large king salmon escapement is less than 15,000 fish, the department shall close the commercial set gillnet fishery in the Upper Subdistrict. As of July 15, 2022, Kenai River late-run large king salmon passage was estimated to be 2,352 fish and projected a final escapement of less than 15,000 fish for runs 3-day late or earlier. Inseason projections show all indices of abundance remain well below their respective minimum inseason management objective. At this time, it does not appear that the late-run will attain adequate escapement without significant restrictions to all fisheries that harvest this stock.
All other set gillnet fisheries in UCI outside of the Upper Subdistrict, will fish the regulatory scheduled period from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Monday, July 18, 2022, except for set gillnet fishing in the Western Subdistrict of the Central District south of Redoubt Point, which will be open as per Emergency Order 2S-13-22, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
As of July 16, Kasilof River sockeye salmon escapement is approximately 291,000 fish and 50% complete, projecting a final escapement of 577,300. The biological escapement goal for Kasilof River sockeye salmon of 140,000 to 320,000 has been achieved. In the Kenai River, average sockeye salmon passage into the Kenai River is 19% complete through July 16, projecting an in river run of 910,000 to 1.6 million sockeye salmon based on average to 3 day late run timings.
Fish harvested in the drift gillnet fishery during this fishing period should be reported in statistical
areas 244-60.
