Alaska Administrative Code › Title 5 - Fish and Game › Part 1 - Commercial and Subsistence Fishing and Private Nonprofit Salmon Hatcheries › Chapter 21 - Cook Inlet Area › Article 3 - Salmon Fishery › 5 AAC 21.310 - Fishing seasons

Current through May 31, 2024
(a) If an opening date specified in this
				  section for a fishing season in any district, subdistrict, or section falls on
				  a date during a closed weekly fishing period under
				  5 AAC 21.320, the fishing season will open the first day
				  of the next open weekly period.
(b)
				  Salmon may be taken only as follows:
(1)
				  Northern District: from June 25 until closed by emergency order;
(2) Central District, for set gillnet:
(A) Western Subdistrict: from June 16 until
				  closed by emergency order;
(B)
				  Kalgin Island, Kustatan, and Chinitna Bay Subdistricts: from June 25 until
				  closed by emergency order;
(C)
				  Upper Subdistrict:
(i) Kasilof Section: from
				  June 25 through August 15, unless closed earlier by emergency order under (iii)
				  of this subparagraph; however, if the department estimates that 30,000 sockeye
				  salmon are in the Kasilof River before June 25, but on or after June 20, the
				  commissioner shall, by emergency order, open the fishery; from August 11
				  through August 15, the fishery is open for regular periods only;
(ii) Kenai and East Foreland Sections: from
				  July 8 through August ¦ 15, unless closed earlier by emergency order
				  under (iii) of this subparagraph; from August 11 through August 15, the fishery
				  is open for regular periods only; from July 1 through August 15, when the
				  Kasilof Section is open to commercial fishing with set gillnets and the Kenai
				  and East Forelands Sections are closed to commercial fishing with set gillnets,
				  commercial fishing with set gillnets may be allowed within 600 feet of the mean
				  high tide mark in that portion of the Kenai Section north of the latitude of
				  the Blanchard Line at 60° 27.10' N. lat, and south of the latitude of the
				  ADF&G regulatory marker located south of the Kenai River mouth at 60°
				  30.49' N. lat., and is not subject to the time limitations in
				  5 AAC 21.359(e)(3) and
				  5 AAC 21.360; from July 1 until the Kenai and East
				  Foreland Sections commercial salmon set gill net fishery open for the regular
				  season, set gill net gear may not exceed 29 meshes in depth and may not have a
				  mesh size greater than four and three quarter inches during all fishing periods
				  that are restricted to within 600 feet of the mean high tide mark;
(iii) Kenai, Kasilof, and East Forelands
				  Sections: in the combined Kenai and East Forelands Sections, and separately in
				  the Kasilof Section, the season will close August 15, unless closed earlier by
				  emergency order after July 31, if the department determines that less than one
				  percent of the season's total sockeye harvest has been taken per fishing period
				  for two consecutive fishing periods in the combined Kenai and East Forelands
				  Sections or separately in the Kasilof Section; from August 11 through August
				  15, the fishery is open for regular fishing periods only; for purposes of this
				  sub-subparagraph, "fishing period" means a time period open to commercial
				  fishing as measured by a 24-hour calendar day from 12:01 a.m. until 11:59
				  p.m.;
(3)
				  Central District, for drift gillnet: from the third Monday in June or June 19
				  whichever is later, until closed by emergency order, except that fishing with
				  drift gillnets may not occur within
(A) two
				  miles of the mean high tide mark on the eastern side of the Upper Subdistrict
				  until those locations have been opened for fishing with set gillnets;
(B) one and one-half miles of the mean high
				  tide mark of the Kenai Peninsula shoreline in
(i) that area of the Kenai and Kasilof
				  Sections of the Upper Subdistrict south of the Kenai River
(ii) the Anchor Point Section, if fishing
				  with drift gillnets is open in the Anchor Point Section under
				  5 AAC 21.353;
(C) one mile of the mean high tide mark of
				  the Kenai Peninsula shoreline in that area of the Kenai and East Forelands
				  Sections of the Upper Subdistrict north of the Kenai River
(4) Southern District:
(A) seine gear season: opened and closed by
				  emergency order;
(B) set gillnet
				  season: opened by emergency order, on or after June 1, and closed September
				  30;
(5) Kamishak Bay
				  District: open and closed by emergency order;
(6) Outer District: open and closed by
				  emergency order;
(7) Eastern
				  District: open and closed by emergency order.