Cook Inlet Set-netters Taking Legal Action After Fishery Closure

Here’s more on the lawsuit from Alaska Public Media:

In a case filed in state court last week, the Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund, representing Cook Inlet fishermen, said the state is mismanaging the east-side set-net fishery to the benefit of other user groups. It’s asking the state to immediately reopen the fishery this season to its 440 or so permit-holders, to pay fishermen back for what they lost and to revise the plan that closed it in the first place.

Due to restrictions linked to the sport fishery, the east-side set-net fishery in Cook Inlet closes when king salmon abundance on the Kenai River is low. The set-netters were shut down early this year for the fourth year in a row.

In their complaint, the fishermen said those closures are part of a larger trend of the state allocating salmon to the other fisheries at their expense. And they said anglers from those sport and personal use fisheries are guiding the Dunleavy administration’s fishery policy for their own interests.