Kasilof man cited on Kasilof-area personal use permit recording charge, $120 bail set

Sixth Recording Citation This Month Signals a Pattern, Not an Anomaly

A Kasilof man, 42, faces $120 bail in Kenai District Court after Tok Wildlife Troopers cited him in Kenai on Tuesday, July 28, for failing to record fish caught during a personal use fishery, according to the Department of Public Safety daily dispatch posted the following morning under case AK26073178. The dispatch states the charge is an accusation only and that defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty; it does not describe how many fish were involved.

The citation is at least the sixth of its kind on Kasilof-area personal use fisheries this month. Troopers cited four Anchorage dipnetters on July 11 and a 65-year-old at Kasilof North Beach on July 21, also for failure to record, also at $120 bail. An earlier Alaska News article on Kasilof dipnetting noted that the Upper Cook Inlet permit requires recording each salmon and clipping both tail fins before the fish leaves your sight.

Here is what gets lost in a $120 line item: the state's own biologists write that "accurate estimates of harvest and escapement are necessary for effective management of Kasilof River salmon stocks." My read is that these are strict liability paperwork cases precisely because the harvest number, not the intent, is what managers need.