About the Cook Inlet

          The Cook Inlet in Alaska is a tidal estuary, a partially enclosed coastal body of water that is about 180 miles long, from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage, and averages about 32 miles wide.  In this inlet, fresh water from rivers mix with the salt water from the Pacific Ocean. This inlet is greatly influenced by some of the largest tidal swings in the world.  About every six hours,  the water at the shoreline goes from high tide to low tide, and tides can be around from minus 5 foot low tide to over a 25 foot high tide, for a tide swing of about 30 feet in 6 hours!  Most commercial fishermen in our wild salmon drift gillnet fishery will start and finish their day in either the Kasilof or Kenai Rivers. The tidal swings create challenges for boats getting in and out of these rivers, as well as creating challenging conditions for small boats such as our 34 foot boat. The tidal swing will also play a part in determining the best time and location to catch fish.

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          We participate in the Upper Cook Inlet Commercial Drift Gillnet Salmon Fishery.  We stretch a long net out behind our boat and catch fish in the net while our boat and net drift in the ocean. This fishery for wild salmon runs from late June until early August. State and federal agencies oversee our sustainable fishery and let us know a day or sometimes weeks in advance which day(s) we are allowed to fish. Our fishing “period” normally opens at 7am and closes at 7pm, while we start early and return to port late for a typical long fishing day. For days with seas over 5 or 6 feet, we normally do not fish, as it can be too rough for a boat our size.  We do our best to fish all of the other days that we are allowed to fish - anywhere from two days to seven days per week. The number of days we fish depends on enough fish making it up the rivers to spawn (lay and fertilize eggs). 

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          Government agencies establish an escapement goals for each salmon run to assure that we maintain a sustainable fishery. During the fishing season, these agencies monitor the amount of salmon heading up the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers, counting fish using weirs, sonars, and counting towers. Typically about half a million to a million sockeye salmon per each of these rivers will "escape" all fishermen (commercial and recreational fishermen) in order to spawn (lay and fertilize eggs) upstream in the river to maintain a healthy salmon population for future generations. Fishermen are allowed to catch the excess salmon in the Cook Inlet that are heading for the rivers, once the government agencies determine that there are enough salmon to meet escapement goals.    

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          In June and July, the salmon that escape up the river, return to where they originally hatched to spawn (laying and fertilize eggs). Both the male and female salmon die within a few weeks after spawning. During the winter, salmon eggs hatch in the rivers, living off their yolk sacks. In the spring they move to rearing areas, sometimes nearby lakes, to grow in fresh water for about one to three years. They feed on zooplankton and small crustaceans. Then the young salmon migrate to the ocean where they will grow quickly during their one to three years in the ocean. They feed on plankton, insects, small crustaceans and sometimes squid and small fish. The Alaska sockeye salmon travel thousands of miles while living in the ocean, drifting in the Gulf of Alaska. They then return to the river where they originated.

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          The Cook Inlet area continues to produce millions of sockeye salmon each year. Our wild salmon are protected and managed, resulting in a sustainable fishery. 

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