The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports Upper Cook Inlet Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 2 modifies 5AAC 21.320(a)(2)(E) Weekly Fishing Periods with set gillnets in all waters of the Upper Subdistrict of the Central District, effective immediately. During the 2022 fishing season, salmon may be taken with set gillnets in the Upper Subdistrict only during fishing periods established by Emergency Order (EO), unless modified by subsequent EO.
All Central District fisheries other than the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery are not affected by this EO.
An Emergency Order in January (No. 2-KS-1-09-22) restricted the king salmon sport fishery in the Kenai River to catch-and-release fishing only, beginning July 1, 2022, based upon the preseason forecast of ~16,000 large fish and recent trends in abundance. These restrictions were implemented in an effort to achieve the optimal escapement goal (OEG) of 15,000–30,000 large late-run king salmon.
According to 5 AAC 21.359(e)(3)(C) Kenai River Late-Run King Salmon Management Plan, in order to achieve the OEG and provide reasonable harvest opportunity for the king salmon sport fishery, if the sport fishery is restricted to no bait and the retention of king salmon is prohibited in the Kenai River, commercial fishing periods in the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery are open for no more than 24 hours per week, with a 36-hour continuous closure per week beginning between 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 7:00 a.m. Friday. With regularly scheduled 2022 fishing periods on Mondays and Thursdays no longer in effect in the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery, all commercial set gillnet fishing time provided to this subdistrict will occur only via EO, unless these restrictions are amended by a future EO.
The Alaska Board of Fisheries has also mandated gear restrictions during all Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishing periods when the Kenai River king salmon sport fishery is restricted (5 AAC (e)(3)(G)). These mandatory gear restrictions are to be implemented from the beginning of the season through July 31 in the entire Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery. Specific gear restriction options that ADF&G chooses to implement will be identified in each UCI Commercial Fishing Announcement.
