Fisheries, Subsistence, and Habitat
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Division: Sport Fish
Title: Recreational fisheries in the Lower Cook Inlet Management Area, 1995-2000
Author: Szarzi, N., and R. Begich
Year: 2004
Report ID: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Management Report No. 04-06, Anchorage.
Abstract: The Kenai Peninsula Management Area (KPMA) was divided into northern and southern management areas in spring of 1997. The southern portion of the KPMA became what is now the Lower Cook Inlet Management Area (LCIMA) and is composed of all freshwater drainages of the Kenai Peninsula which flow into Cook Inlet south of the Kasilof River to Gore Point. For purposes of this report, Lower Cook Inlet is considered from Bluff Point and south, Central Cook inlet is north of Bluff Point to the Kasilof River, and upper Cook Inlet is north of the Kasilof River. On the west side of Cook Inlet the LCIMA area is composed of freshwater drainages which flow into Cook Inlet south of the latitude of the southern tip of Chisik Island and north of Cape Douglas. The management area includes marine waters in Cook Inlet south of a line from the Kasilof River to the southern tip of Chisik Island and north of the latitude of Cape Douglas and west from the longitude of Gore Point. Fisheries include North Pacific salmon (pink Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, coho O. kisutch, sockeye O. nerka, chum O. keta, and chinook O. tshawytscha.) Fisheries for these species occur in fresh and salt water. The major salmon fisheries harvest chinook and coho salmon nearshore in Central Cook Inlet and the adjacent freshwater tributaries. In Kachemak Bay, the Homer Spit Enhancement Lagoon is the focal point of salmon anglers. A popular fishery occurs on the area's anadromous and resident stocks of Dolly Varden Salvelinus malma. Steelhead/rainbow trout O. mykiss also support popular catch-and-release sport fisheries. Homer has the largest annual landing of sport-caught halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis in Alaska. The state's largest recreational razor clam Siliqua patula fisheries occur on the beaches of the central Kenai Peninsula. The fisheries occur along a 50 mile area of beach between the Kasilof and Anchor rivers on the east side of Cook Inlet. The largest hardshell clam fishery (little neck clams Protothaca staminea and butter clams Saxidomus giganteus) in Southcentral Alaska occurs in Kachemak Bay. A Tanner crab Chionoecetes bairdi fishery is also prosecuted in Kachemak Bay. A small but growing fishery for coho salmon occurs on the west side of Cook Inlet. Western Cook Inlet also hosts small fisheries for chum salmon, halibut, razor clams and several species of hardshell clams. A fishery for Tanner crab occurs in several bays on the west side of Cook Inlet.
Keywords: Lower Cook Inlet Management Area, Alaska Board of Fisheries, recreational angler, harvest, effort, chinook salmon, early-run, late-run, coho, Dolly Varden, steelhead, razor clam, hardshell clam, dungeness crab, tanner crab, educational fisheries, Kasilof, Kachemak Bay, Ninilchik River, Halibut Cove, Seldovia Bay, China Poot, Tutka Bay, Homer Spit, Anchor River, Deep Creek.