At a public hearing hosted on Nov. 2 by the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, around a half-dozen commercial fishers gave their feedback and thoughts on the proposed addition of dipnets as permanent gear for the east side setnet fishery.

The commission earlier this year considered adding dipnets to the fishery, in response to approval of dipnets in the ESSN by the State Board of Fisheries in March. The CFEC gave emergency approval to the gear in May but decided in June not to approve dipnets as permanent gear, citing concerns with safety, efficiency and cost.

In October, the commission again began the regulatory process of adding dipnets as gear for the ESSN, launching a new period of public comment ahead of a new decision at a yet-undecided date.

The CFEC, Commissioner Glenn Haight said during the hearing, is the agency that issues permits. Much of the responsibility for fishing regulation falls to the board, but the CFEC also has to approve dipnets before they can be used by commercial fishers.

Haight said that, earlier this year, the indication he received was that fishing with dipnets “wasn’t going to be terribly profitable at all.” That’s why permanent approval was rejected in June. With the emergency approval, fishers could try out the gear this summer and learn more.

“If it turns out that some people are able to make some money, prove me wrong,” Haight said. “Petition us, we’ll try again. That’s what happened.”

Preliminary results of a survey conducted by the commission, shared during the hearing, says that of 130 responses, only 34 said they participated, while the remaining 96 said they hadn’t. Only 27 of those who participated chose to disclose whether or not they had profited, and only 11 had.

Respondents who didn’t fish with dipnets cited economic concerns, practical challenges and “cultural frustration” at changes to the traditionally set gillnet-using fishery.

“The economic feasibility of the gear type remains a concern; only 41% of dip net participants reported any profit, with an average net revenue of just $505,” CFEC Research Section Lead Reid Johnson writes in a memo about the survey. “These modest returns, paired with operational issues like crew shortages, raise questions about whether dip netting provides a viable income as it is currently implemented.”

Colton Lipka, Cook Inlet commercial fisheries management biologist for the State Department of Fish and Game, said during the hearing that a single 4-pound king was harvested in the emergency approved commercial dipnet fishery in 2024. He said they have no record of the number of kings that could have been caught and then successfully released.

Fishers at the hearing were divided on the topic of setnets. Some said they had seen success this summer, others said they refused to accept dipnets as an alternative to their traditional setnets.

Alan Crookston said that using dipnets this year kept him in business, that he would have been forced out of the fishery without that limited opportunity.

Fishing this summer, Crookston said he used four boats and everyone made “some” money. They caught four or five king salmon and successfully released each.

Russell Clark, similarly, said that he used to be in staunch opposition to the idea of commercial fishing with dipnets. But he tried with some friends this summer and turned a profit. He said he had drifted up and down the beach trying to chase schools of fish.

“We’re not going to make the money that we used to make off our sites, but we can make some money,” Clark said. “It’s better than sitting on the beach.”

Several fishers said that fishing with dipnets at sites farther from the mouth of the river would be much less successful than those where fish are less “concentrated.”

He said that his returns were diminished “substantially” on the days the test fishery for set beach seines was operating.

Clark and Crookston also both said they were able to experiment with their gear to increase their efficiency during the season.

Doug Blossom said that he grew up setnetting, but that this year was the first in over 60 years that he didn’t even visit his fishing site.

“It’s very, very sad,” he said. “If some guys want to start a new fishery, let them start with a dipnet permit or a seine permit. I don’t want nothing to do with that. I have a setnet permit.”

Also, Blossom said that he was unconvinced that moving the ESSN to alternative gear will reverse the decline of the Kenai River king.

“If anything, it’s the opposite,” he said. “This year’s Kenai king count was lower than ever, and we haven’t fished — really in five years — zero in the last two years.”

Lisa Rodgers said that she had tried dipnetting this year and did turn up “some income.” But, she echoed Blossom’s concerns about the future of her fishery.

“Once they take things away from us, we never get it back,” she said. “That’s part of where I’m wavering with the dipnetting. If it becomes a regulatory gear type, we might not ever setnet again.”

Commercial dipnetting in the ESSN is, in Department of Fish and Game regulation, tied specifically to the Kenai River Late-run King Salmon Action Plan that was created in March as a response to the stock’s designation as a stock of management concern. That means, Lipka said, when local king salmon are delisted as a stock of concern, the dipnet fishery “disappears.” That’s unless the board separately creates regulatory structure for the fishery.

The State Board of Fisheries in October accepted an agenda change request to consider a proposal that would expand the fishing time, days and season dates for commercial dipnetting. That’s set to go before the board in March, and may “make this a little better,” Haight said.

Public comment on the proposed regulation change to add dipnets as a permanent gear type under set gillnet permits in the east side setnet fishery will be accepted through Nov. 22. A date hasn’t yet been set for decision on the proposed change.

Written comments can be sent by email to DFG.CFEC.PublicQuestions@alaska.gov.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

Doug Blossom, left, speaks to the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission during a public hearing on a proposed regulation change to add dipnets to the east side setnet fishery at Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Commercial fishers speak to the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission during a public hearing on a proposed regulation change to add dipnets to the east side setnet fishery at Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)