Cook Inlet Fishermen's Fund

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.

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.