Troopers are running an enforcement blitz on Bristol Bay's peak season

State troopers are policing Bristol Bay hard this summer, and during the busiest stretch of sockeye season the citations have piled up fast. Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited at least 18 commercial fishers between June 29 and July 5 alone — for fishing in closed waters, fishing during closed periods, and gillnet violations — across the Nushagak, Egegik, and Ugashik districts.

Improperly marked boats are part of the pattern too, and no accident: Fish and Game flagged vessel-identification violations as an enforcement priority for the season, and troopers have kept writing tickets into the following week. The cases run through the Bristol Bay Salmon Enforcement Program, a dedicated effort to police a fishery compressed into a few frantic weeks.

The cited fishers came from all over — Homer, Wasilla, and Delta Junction, but also Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, and Minnesota — a measure of how far the fleet travels for a bay that lands a huge share of Alaska's salmon, more than 60 percent by some industry estimates. Arraignments are set in Dillingham and Naknek through early August.

All charges are accusations, and everyone cited is presumed innocent.