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Kenai gets fishery disaster dollars from feds

Brian and Lisa Gabriel transfer clean sockeye salmon between totes at a fish site on Thursday, July 18, 2024 near Kenai, Alaska.
Ashlyn O'Hara
/
KDLL
Brian and Lisa Gabriel transfer clean sockeye salmon between totes at a fish site on Thursday, July 18, 2024 near Kenai, Alaska.

The City of Kenai accepted nearly $80,000 in fishery disaster money last week.

Most of that – $67,185.84 – is coming from the east side setnet fishery’s 2018 season and the 2020 Upper Cook Inlet salmon fishery season. The city is also getting more than $10,000 through the 2018 and 2020 Copper River and Prince William Sound salmon disasters.

The total amount accepted by the Kenai City Council is $77,819.34. The money will go into the city’s catchall general fund to be spent at a later date.

A city is eligible to receive fishery disaster money if it’s impacted by a disaster. Those impacts may include lost revenue from poor or no salmon landings and a decline in economic activities during the fishing season.

The money comes after distribution delays caused by federal software glitches. Alaska’s federal lawmakers announced in September the 2018 and 2020 Cook Inlet fisheries would finally get more than $9.4 million.

Cook Inlet’s east side setnet fishery also received disaster declarations for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, totaling nearly $11.5 million for the first two years.

Prior to joining KDLL's news team in May 2024, O'Hara spent nearly four years reporting for the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai. Before that, she was a freelance reporter for The New York Times, a statehouse reporter for the Columbia Missourian and a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. You can reach her at aohara@kdll.org
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