March 26, 2026 — Upper Cook Inlet’s commercial driftnet fishing fleet has a new rulebook for the salmon fishing season that starts in July. That’s after the Alaska Board of Fisheries, which oversees state-managed waters, significantly altered the fleet’s season parameters during its meeting in Anchorage last week. Some Kenai Peninsula fishermen are unhappy with the changes.
The changes were spurred by a proposal from Andy Couch, a fishing guide in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, although the version approved by the board was ultimately a dramatic rewrite of the submitted language. Couch told commissioners the Upper Cook Inlet’s drift fleet is preventing coho salmon from getting to the Deshka and Little Susitna Rivers. That’s where Couch guides.
“Northern Cook Inlet coho salmon escapements have declined with increased use of the central district drift gill net fleet to harvest large returns of Kenai and Kasilof river sockeye during the past three years,” he said.
The state’s management plan for Cook Inlet’s central district drift gillnet fishery is outlined in Alaska Administrative Code. Cook Inlet is carved into chunks of fishing grounds that may be opened or closed by the Department of Fish and Game.
Board members weren’t scheduled to hear proposals impacting Cook Inlet fisheries during its 2026 meeting. That’s because the board meets on three-year cycles, and Cook Inlet issues aren’t scheduled to be taken up until 2027. But the board agreed to take up the proposal as a supplemental issue.
The new rules let the fleet potentially fish eight more hours per week, but restrict the fleet’s fishing grounds.