Upper Cook Inlet Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 5 opens commercial salmon fishing with set gillnets in the Kasilof Section of the Upper Subdistrict from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22, 2021. Drift gillnetting will be open in the Kasilof Section (regular Kasilof Section, not the Expanded Kasilof Section) from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
Fishing in the aforementioned waters is warranted in order to harvest sockeye salmon returning to the Kasilof River.
(Map of Upper Subdistrict set gillnet commercial fishing statistical areas)
The Kasilof Section set gillnet fishery is open from June 25 through August 15, unless closed earlier by emergency order under (iii) of this subparagraph; however, if the department estimates that 30,000 sockeye salmon are in the Kasilof River before June 25, but on or after June 20, the commissioner shall, by Emergency Order (EO), open the fishery per 5 AAC 21.310(b)(2)(C)(i) Fishing Seasons. The cumulative sockeye salmon sonar passage estimate in the Kasilof River will have exceeded 30,500 fish by midnight on June 21, 2021, and 34,000 sockeye are estimated to be in the river by that date. Therefore, this fishing period is in compliance with 5 AAC 21.310 Fishing Seasons regulation.
As announced in UCI Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 4, 5 AAC 21.359(e)(3)(B) Kenai River Late-Run King Salmon Management Plan 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 With regularly scheduled fishing periods on Mondays and Thursdays no longer in effect in the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery, any and all fishing time may occur only via EO beginning June 20, 2021.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, 12 hours of EO time will have been used for the week of June 20–June 26.
Also 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 this fishing period in the Kasilof Section of the Upper Subdistrict, 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.
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)). There are six statistical areas for set gillnetting in the Upper Subdistrict of Upper Cook Inlet (Table 1). To aid in determining the correct statistical area that should be reported on each fish ticket, a description of the set gillnet statistical areas in the Upper Subdistrict (Figure 1), including the north and south latitude lines, has been provided in this announcement (please see following page).
Fish harvested in the set gillnet fishery during this fishing period should be reported in statistical areas 244-21, 244-22, or 244-31. Fish harvested in the drift gillnet fishery during this fishing period should be reported in statistical areas 244-61.
