Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold

Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold commercially, up to 86,000 pounds. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game set the season in an advisory issued Monday afternoon from its Homer office.

The season covers detached kelp only, meaning blades that have already come loose and washed ashore rather than plants cut from living beds. The 86,000-pound figure is a guideline harvest level, the target managers plan around rather than a hard ceiling written into regulation.

Harvesters need a commissioner's permit in hand when they collect. The permit names the dates and areas where harvesting is allowed and requires accurate records and reports filed on time. Applications for Lower Cook Inlet go through the department's Homer office, where area management biologist Glenn Hollowell is the listed contact, at (907) 235-8191.

The version of this available to everyone else is considerably smaller. Personal-use harvesters in Cook Inlet and along the North Gulf Coast may take detached plants at or above the daily high tide line, by hand, up to 10 gallons a day per person. The department says those limits are meant to protect live kelp and nearshore habitat. That fishery reopens Sept. 1 after a summer closure.