Kenai asks for fishery economic disaster declaration

Published 10:30 pm Tuesday, December 23, 2025

The Kenai City Council unanimously voted on Dec. 17 to request Gov. Mike Dunleavy to declare an economic disaster for the Upper Cook Inlet East Side Set Net Fishery and support a recovery plan.

Lisa Gabriel, director of the Kenai Peninsula Fisherman’s Association, spoke during last Wednesday’s meeting on behalf of the organization. She said the 2025 preliminary exvessel value — which is the value of the fish as it’s unloaded from the boat — was “just under” $1.7 million and represented an 82% loss of revenue. Current NOAA policy states a disaster has occurred when fishermen suffer an 80% loss.

According to Resolution No. 2025-72, which asks for the disaster declaration, the ESSN fishery had “very limited” harvest and fishing opportunities this year — a “dramatic” loss which “threatens the livelihood of the individuals, families and businesses participating in the fishery and jeopardizes the continued viability of the commercial fishing industry in the upper Cook Inlet region.”

“That statement is pretty powerful,” Gabriel said. “It sums everything up for us.”

In October, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game released its preliminary summary of the 2025 Upper Cook Inlet salmon fishery season. According to the report, this year saw the lowest king salmon harvest on record.

Gabriel said the ESSN fishery earned close to $1.3 million by fishing with dip nets. Around four people fished per permit, and 37 permits were issued. ADF&G opened two eight-hour periods of fishing on Aug. 5 and 6 after determining the recovery goal of king salmon would be met. Eighty-two permit holders total fished during the two days, earning about $420,000 of the $1.7 million of the total exvessel value.

“As you know, your resolutions in the past have been a very important part in getting our resolutions passed in the city,” she said. “This year, we were very happy to see that, although not made whole, the 2018 and 2020 disaster funds finally reached the fishermen’s hands and the municipalities and hopefully into some of the businesses around town, where our fishermen were able to go and buy groceries and repair equipment and things that they haven’t been able to do for a while.”

The city received $78,000 total in disaster funds for the 2018 and 2020 seasons.

Vice Mayor Victoria Askin and council member Bridget Grieme sponsored the ordinance. Askin said she believed roughly 400 families on the Kenai Peninsula were impacted by the shortage, and Grieme said the economic impact reverberated throughout the city as folks dialed back their spending.

“Everybody feels that a little bit when portions of our community are without their income source — whether it’s their sole income source or partial income source,” she said. “I just think the trickle down effect there is really important to consider.”

Mayor Henry Knackstedt, who said he came from a family of commercial fishermen, called it Kenai’s “original industry.”

“In looking back and looking forward, I think that it still has an important part here in our economy,” he said. “I’ll always support the commercial fishermen in that industry here.”

Find Resolution No. 2025-72 and the Dec. 17 meeting recording on the Kenai City Council website.