Fisheries

The reopening of the fishery this summer was just a temporary fix. And once again, UCIDA and the feds are at odds over what comes next.

Kenai’s local space education center is hosting a series of workshops focused on an earthly issue: food sustainability

After a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Saturday, Sept. 17, marks the return of Belugas Count!, a public science event that aims to catalog Cook Inlet’s beluga whale population. The event is hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and will take place across 14 public viewing stations in communities from Anchorage down to the lower Kenai Peninsula.

Alaska's highest court said fisheries managers did not have to manage the Cook Inlet set-net fishery to national standards and that they didn’t violate any regulations when they closed the fishery early.

The federal government has announced plans to take over management of silver salmon in the federal waters of the lower Kuskokwim River for the first time ever. That’s if the silver run stays low.

The 40th annual Bristol Bay Fishtival celebration in Naknek brought together fisherfolk, residents and visitors for a weekend of food, music, arts and many other traditions.

Three days after they were ordered to take their nets out of the water, Cook Inlet set-netters are suing the state over the fishery’s closure. In a case filed in state court this week, the Cook Inlet Fishermen's Fund, representing Cook Inlet fishermen, said the state’s mismanaging the east-side set-net fishery to the benefit of other user groups. It’s asking the state to immediately reopen the fishery this season to its 440 or so permit-holders, to pay fishermen back for what they lost and to revise the plan that closed it in the first place.

Fishing for kings on the Kenai River is again off limits this month. It’s the third year in a row the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has closed the fishery early amid low king salmon counts.The closure also means set-netters who fish the east side of Cook Inlet are no longer allowed to fish this season. Their fishery closes when king counts are down.

Bristol Bay's Nushagak District broke its record for the largest single-day harvest. Fisherfolk caught 2.46 million salmon on Thursday. That’s about 600,000 fish over last year’s record daily harvest, which was set last year. The district had back-to-back record harvests exactly one year ago, when fleets caught 1.7 million on June 30 and 1.82 million on July 1.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued several emergency orders this week. Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon and waters of the Homer City dock will be open for snagging beginning June 29 through Friday, July 1. But all sport fishing in the Ninilchik River, Deep Creek and the Anchor River will be closed through July 15.