Cook Inlet drifters get 12 more hours as Kasilof sockeye double the goal

Cook Inlet's drift fleet gets 12 more hours on the water Monday — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the expanded Kasilof, expanded Kenai and Anchor Point sections — because the sockeye keep coming.

Kasilof River escapement hit 793,000 fish by July 24, more than double the top of the goal, with roughly 1.2 million projected by season's end. It's the fleet's second extra period in a week.

The boats still can't fish within 2 miles of the Kenai Peninsula shoreline — protection for late-run kings, which are closed even to sport fishing this season. The buffer comes from Board of Fisheries restrictions aimed at keeping drift nets off northern Cook Inlet coho, a plan the United Cook Inlet Drift Association says it will challenge in court.

Federal waters run on their own clock: the Cook Inlet exclusive economic zone opens Thursdays only, through July 31 or until the catch limit is reached.