According to United Cook Inlet Drift Association president Roland Maw, the nuts and bolts changes to the management plan are these: The drift fleet will begin fishing approximately a week earlier, either the third Monday in June or June 19, whichever is later. From July 9 to July 15, the drift fleet will be restricted to Area 1, from the south end of Kalgin Island to the south line, to allow Yentna fish to pass up the inlet. During that time, managers have the option of allowing another 12-hour opening by emergency order in the same area. From July 16 to July 31, depending upon run strength, there can be additional fishing time or expanded corridors by emergency order, especially on runs of more than 2 million sockeye to ensure that escapement will stay inside the goals. From Aug. 1 through 10, there can be three regular inlet-wide openings and corridors by emergency order. After Aug. 10, there will be a small west-side directed coho fishery managed by emergency order. Also, on runs of more than 4 million sockeye, the Yentna escapement goal will be reduced from 90,000 to 75,000. Maw explained there is a clear correlation between big Kenai runs and a dip in Yentna escapement. When the Kenai River experiences a large return, the extra fishing time given to the drift fleet seems to result in a larger Yentna bycatch. The smaller escapement into the Yentna is not expected to have an impact on that run, according to Maw. "We're essentially trading 15,000 fish headed to the Yentna for a harvest of around 500,000 Kenai fish," he said. "That seems like a pretty good deal."
Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978, and has also designed and built gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and sablefish, and gillnets salmon in Upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist.
Other changes to the management plan include allowing the use of spotter planes to help find fish, a practice that is currently banned during the actual opening but allowed beforehand. Also, drift fishermen can now use one 50 fathom shackle of monofilament web out of the three 50 fathom shackles they are allowed. Maw explained that there is no evidence that there is any gain in efficiency with mono web, but there is a considerable savings. Mono costs approximately 40 percent less than the multi-strand web now required.
There has been much discussion since the meetings about the cooperation between the commercial and sport-fishing interests. Sport fishermen were asking for a stable and predictable flow of fish into the Kenai and Kasilof rivers, which they expect to be provided by the 36-hour mandatory closure windows imposed on setnetters beginning between 7 a.m. Thursdays and 7 a.m. Fridays. Settnetters, however, are not happy with the board's decision to leave the mandatory windows in place.
"We feel we were totally shut out of the process," Paul Shadura, president of the Kenai Peninsula Fisherman's Association, told the Peninsula Clarion. Maw stressed that every effort was made on his part to include the settnetters in negotiations, but for reasons he could not fathom, they declined to participate.
