NMFS closes Cook Inlet federal waters to commercial salmon fishing through Aug. 15

NOAA Fisheries closed commercial salmon fishing in the Cook Inlet exclusive economic zone from 7 a.m. Aug. 5 through 7 p.m. Aug. 15 to keep the fishery from exceeding the federal coho salmon catch limit.

The temporary rule, published Thursday in the Federal Register, covers commercial salmon fishing in the federally managed Cook Inlet EEZ area. It does not close every Cook Inlet commercial fishery or all Cook Inlet waters.

NMFS said the closure is needed to prevent the fishery from exceeding the 2026 total allowable catch for the aggregate coho salmon stock complex in the federal Cook Inlet area. Because the fishery catches mixed salmon stocks together, the agency barred commercial salmon fishing broadly in the federal area rather than closing coho harvest alone.

The federal closure follows a season that opened under a low coho cap and had already pushed state managers to limit nearby drift gillnet fishing. Alaska News reported Wednesday that the state had confined Upper Cook Inlet drift gillnetters to Area 3 for a single 12-hour opening after federal coho harvest in the Cook Inlet EEZ area neared its limit.

The distinction matters for fishermen and others watching Cook Inlet management. The federal rule closes commercial salmon fishing in the EEZ area through Aug. 15. It does not by itself decide state-water openings outside that federal area.

Source: National Marine Fisheries Service temporary rule, Federal Register document 2026-15989, published Aug. 6, 2026.