Outer and Eastern districts close, ending Lower Cook Inlet's commercial salmon season

Lower Cook Inlet's Outer and Eastern districts closed for the season at 10 p.m. Monday, ending 2026 purse seine fishing in the region. The Eastern District's final period ran from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 31.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Division of Commercial Fisheries set the closure date in Advisory Announcement No. 19, issued Aug. 28 with Homer finfish management biologist Glenn Hollowell listed as contact. Dogfish Bay (Koyuktolik), Windy Bay, the Petrof portion of the Nuka Island Subdistrict and the Aialik Bay Subdistrict were open only through Aug. 31.

The advisory's other fisheries had already closed: Southern District purse seine on July 31 at 10 p.m., set gillnet on Aug. 15 at 6 a.m., and Kamishak, which remains closed to purse seine harvest.

One escapement count exceeded its goal range even as the season wound down. "An aerial survey of Aialik Lake flown on July 29 documented 7,000 sockeye salmon in Aialik Lake. This is above the 3,200 – 5,400 SEG range for this system and species," the department said.

The closures follow Alaska's district-by-district inseason management, which shifts harvest opportunity with run strength rather than a fixed calendar. The United Cook Inlet Drift Association has objected that without fleet harvest, processors "cannot afford to operate and will close their businesses."

Commercial fishing remains prohibited within 500 yards of salmon stream fresh water and over stream beds under 5 AAC 39.975(a)(26).