The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports Upper Cook Inlet Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 5, which opens commercial salmon fishing with set gillnets in the Kasilof Section of the Upper Subdistrict from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. on Monday, June 27, 2022. During this fishing period, legal gear 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.
By regulation, drift gillnetting will be open District Wide in the Central District, except for the Chinitna Bay Subdistrict, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June 27, 2022. This announcement also extends drift gillnetting from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Monday, June 27, 2022, to the Kasilof Section of the Upper Subdistrict only (not the Expanded Kasilof section).
As of June 23, approximately 43,000 sockeye salmon have been counted at the Kasilof River sockeye salmon sonar project, and run timing was at 13%. Fishing in the above described waters is warranted in order to harvest sockeye salmon returning to the Kasilof River.
As a result of the June 21, 2022, U.S. District Court ruling there is no Federal prohibition on commercial salmon fishing in federal EEZ waters in Upper Cook Inlet. Any vessel fishing for salmon in Cook Inlet will be regulated by the State under the laws of the State of Alaska, as was the case before the implementation of Amendment 14. As a result, federal waters of upper Cook Inlet will be open under the Central District Drift Gillnet fishery Management Plan this season.
As announced in UCI Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 2, 5 AAC 21.359(e)(3)(C) Kenai River Late-Run King Salmon Management Plan restricts the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery to no more than 24 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 With regulatory fishing periods on Mondays and Thursdays no longer in effect in the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery,any and all fishing time may occur only via EO beginning June 20, 2022. With this current fishing announcement, 12 hours of EO time will have been used for the week of June 26–July 2.
Fishermen and processors are reminded of the legal requirement to report all commercially harvested salmon on a fish ticket, whether sold or kept for personal use, using the correct statistical fishing area or areas (5 AAC 39.130(c)(7)).
