Alaska’s Board of Fisheries is considering a major change to the type of gear Cook Inlet’s east-side setnet fishermen can use when king salmon runs are poor. The group will take up a proposal Friday that would replace setnets with beach seines in the fishery’s management plan.
Fishermen would only be allowed to fish with beach seines when the state forecasts a run of at least 14,250 large king salmon. Currently, fishermen are allowed to use setnets when that threshold is met.
The proposed pivot to beach seines might seem like an abrupt about-face. But a small group of setnetters have been experimenting with beach seines for years now. Armed with an experimental permit from the state, a Kenai couple deployed custom seines on their setnet site to see if the gear could harvest commercial levels of sockeye salmon without killing king salmon.
Setnets catch when fish swim into and get their gills caught on the net’s mesh diamonds. That means caught fish are usually dead by the time they’re hauled onto the beach. Seine nets have smaller diamonds, though. They billow with the tide and scoop fish onto the beach – alive.
Brent Johnson has been commercial setnetting on Cook Inlet’s east side for decades. He tried out beach seines last summer and successfully rigged a shoreside pulley that hauled a net in and out of the water. He says the demonstrated success of beach seines shouldn’t displace the fishery’s namesake gear type.
“Where it went off the rails is when the Board of Fish decided that you could only use a seine if … the bottom end of the king salmon management goal was achieved – 14,250,” he said. “Then it doesn't make any sense anymore, because at that rate, you could put setnets back in.”
When the state forecasts less than 14,250 large king salmon for the late-run Kenai River fishery, the setnet fishery is closed outright. Johnson says seining advocates want to use seines when the run is below that threshold and setnets when the run is above that threshold – an approach of “yes, and” rather than “either/or.”
But that’s not Johnson’s only problem with the proposal. The board wants to limit beach seine operations to permit holders whose fish site includes a shore lease.
“For some people, it's a real problem,” he said. “Quite a few setnetters don't have any beach area. You obviously can't use a beach seine unless you have a beach.”
The board has acknowledged that conflict in supporting documents.
“Review of the commissioners permits operations showed beach seining could be a viable method to commercially harvest sockeye salmon in the ESSN fishery while releasing king salmon,” the supporting documents say.
Department data show that, of the 20,981 fish caught through experimental beach seines in 2024, 98% were sockeye. All 16 king salmon caught were released into Cook Inlet.
In the same documents, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says it’s neutral on the specific proposal, but that it generally favors developing methods that allow fishermen the opportunity to harvest other abundant species.
And then there’s the cost element. Traditionally, setnetters can get by with a skiff, their setnets and buoys. Beach seining requires a bit more gear. The experimental fisheries required participants to tweak their existing running lines. And they needed tractors to haul the net in and out of the water and seine nets to actually catch fish.
Johnson says that change won’t come cheap for a fishery the federal government has repeatedly declared an economic disaster.
Public comments on the board’s proposal are due by 5 p.m. Thursday. The board meeting will be held virtually on Friday, May 1 at 1 p.m. and can be streamed on the board’s website. The board will not take public testimony during the meeting.
