East side Cook Inlet setnetters face Dec. 31 deadline for new permit area

The Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission will give east side Cook Inlet setnetting its own permit area starting Jan. 1, 2027, under a rule the lieutenant governor's office filed Wednesday. Permit holders have from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 to apply to fish there.

The new East Side Set Net Area covers several statistical areas in the Upper Subdistrict of the Central District. Under the enrolled law, permits move into the area only if the commission reassigns them. Holders must show they fished there in a year from 2020 through 2024, or rely on the record of an immediate family member who transferred the permit. Everyone else stays in the remaining Cook Inlet area.

The commission's Sept. 1 letter lists fish tickets as the preferred proof of past fishing there, though a buoy tag also counts. Applications are due Dec. 31 and must be attached to the 2027 renewal form.

The new area began as Sen. Jesse Bjorkman's Senate Bill 158, which the Alaska State Senate substituted into House Bill 117 in place of House-passed language that would have let setnetters fish as cooperatives. The bill became law June 18 without the governor's signature. "Within this new administrative area, CFEC will have the power to effectively designate the number of set-net permits that participate in that fishery," Bjorkman's sponsor statement said.

In letters to lawmakers, Gary Hollier of Kenai, whose family holds eight permits on North Kalifonsky Beach, backed the bill. "This bill is a small step, but is desperately needed to help the ESSN fishery," Hollier wrote. Upper Cook Inlet setnetter Mark Ducker raised a different concern. "If this is a prelude to another ill-thought-out buyback program, it should die until the entire program is put to a vote for all owners of these permits to determine interest and funding," Ducker wrote.

The commission will begin deciding applications Jan. 1 and issue all permits by Jan. 31. Anyone denied a permit can appeal to superior court by March 1 and hold a provisional permit while the appeal is pending.