Petersburg-area gillnetters get one more day before the fishery closes

Drift gillnet fishermen around Kupreanof and Mitkof islands get one more day on the water before the fishery near Petersburg closes for now.

Fish and Game extended fishing in Districts 6 and 8, which will now close at noon Thursday, Aug. 27. Section 6-D stays closed, and parts of Sections 8-A and 8-B remain off-limits. It is the second such short extension this month — the same districts got an extra 24 hours on Aug. 5.

The closure order gives no escapement or harvest numbers. Drift gillnet fishermen have told federal regulators they would rather see openings tied to real-time fish counts than to fixed preseason limits.