Cook Inlet drift gillnetters drop to two days a week as the sockeye catch thins out

Cook Inlet drift gillnetters are now limited to Mondays and Thursdays for the rest of the season, fishing Areas 3 and 4 only, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., unless the state closes or changes it. The schedule started with a Monday opening Aug. 17.

The restriction kicked in Aug. 10. Under the Central District drift management plan, the two-day limit applies from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15 when two openings in a row each take under 1% of the season's drift sockeye harvest. The Aug. 3 and Aug. 6 openings both did.

The runs behind the fishery have been strong. Through July 30, Kasilof sockeye escapement stood at 971,243 fish against a goal of 140,000 to 320,000, and the Kenai sonar count reached 968,423.

Drift gillnetting still has to stay two miles off the Kenai Peninsula shoreline, a rule that protects Kenai River late-run king salmon and holds until that stock recovers.