Upper Cook Inlet (UCI) Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 8 opens commercial salmon fishing with set gillnets in the Kasilof Section of the Upper Subdistrict from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. on Monday, June 28, 2021.
By regulation, set gillnet fisheries in the Northern District, and the Western, Kustatan, Kalgin Island and Chinitna Bay subdistricts of the Central District, will fish their regularly scheduled period from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June 28, 2021. Also, 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 28, 2021. This announcement extends drift gillnetting from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Monday, June 28, 2021 to the Kasilof Section of the Upper Subdistrict only (not the Expanded Kasilof section).
Fishing in the above described waters is warranted in order to harvest sockeye salmon returning to the Kasilof River.
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 With regularly scheduled fishing periods on Mondays and Thursdays no longer in effect in the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery, any and all fishing time may occur only via EO beginning June 20, 2021.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, 15 hours of EO time will have been used for the week of June 27–July 3.
Also announced in UCI Commercial Fishing Announcement No. 4, when the Kenai River late run king salmon sport fishery is restricted, gear restrictions are in place for all Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishermen from the beginning of the season through July 31, 2021. During the June 28, 2021 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)).
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 244-60.