NOAA seeks comment on renewing Cook Inlet federal salmon fishery's reporting rules

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration filed a notice Wednesday seeking public comment on renewing federal approval of the data it collects from commercial salmon fishermen and processors in Cook Inlet's federal waters, north of 59°46.15′ N. The notice is scheduled for Federal Register publication Thursday, and comments are due by Jan. 4, 2027.

The collection requires operators of drift gillnet vessels to keep daily fishing logs recording set times, GPS positions and catch and bycatch counts. Processors report landing and production data through NOAA's eLandings system. The collection also covers applications for federal salmon fishing, processor and receiver permits, eLandings registration and the drift gillnet marker buoys that display a vessel's permit number. Vessel monitoring systems fall under a separate data collection that this notice does not renew.

The agency estimates the paperwork takes 10 to 30 minutes per response: 15 minutes for a logsheet, 10 for a landing report and 30 for marking a buoy. In all, it estimates 2,846 hours a year from about 400 respondents, at an annual cost to the public of $20,100. Only the respondent count and labor costs have changed from the prior approval, the notice says.

NOAA's 2026 environmental assessment found that 218 of the fishery's 247 registered Federal Fishing Permits were used in federal waters in 2025. The drift gillnet fishery there grossed about $3.9 million that year, 94 percent of it from sockeye, by preliminary figures. It landed 434,711 salmon, about 12 percent of the Upper Cook Inlet commercial drift gillnet harvest.

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service took over managing the federal-waters fishery in 2024 under Amendment 16, a change made to comply with rulings from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for Alaska. The state manages fisheries within 3 miles of the coast. The Ninth Circuit upheld that amendment in August against a challenge from the drift fleet.