ADF&G closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday

Set gillnetters in the Northern District of Upper Cook Inlet will lose a full fishing period Monday, Aug. 10. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has closed commercial salmon fishing there from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m..

The department cited coho salmon as the reason for the closure. "The department is taking a conservative approach for managing Northern Cook Inlet coho salmon this season, in accordance with the Northern District Salmon Management Plan," said Lucas Stumpf of the Division of Commercial Fisheries in the department's Aug. 8 advisory. "In combination with recent year trends and inseason indicators of abundance, this closure is warranted to increase coho salmon escapements into Northern Cook Inlet streams."

For the fleet, the order removes a scheduled 12-hour period in a short season. It cuts into harvest time and trip planning for crews, permit holders and processors. No set gillnet fishers or processors had publicly commented on the closure as of Sunday.

The closure follows a season of narrowing opportunity in the inlet. NOAA Fisheries prohibited commercial salmon fishing in the Cook Inlet EEZ Area effective Aug. 5 to keep the coho stock complex inside the federal catch limit. That federal closure runs through Aug. 15, staying in effect well beyond Monday's state closure. Earlier state orders in July limited Northern District permit holders to one 35-fathom set gillnet to protect Susitna River sockeye. A separate order restricts the Central District drift fleet to Areas 3 and 4 beginning the same Monday morning.