Cook Inlet

The historic cannery on the west side of Cook Inlet is owned by the Porter family, commercial fisherman and entrepreneurs who have been restoring the cannery complex for two decades.

In a new five-year plan, the Biden Administration will sell the fewest offshore leases in history, and none in Alaskan waters. The last Cook Inlet federal lease sale, in 2022, drew only one bidder.

Alaska’s largest utilities are mostly dependent on natural gas from Cook Inlet. In this four-part series, we take a look at how now, with just years until demand is expected to outpace supply, they’ll need to figure out new ways to get power — and time is running out.

The prospective Johnson Tract mine is still in early stages. But the project, on Native corporation-owned land inside Lake Clark National Park, has drawn concerns from environmental groups and nearby business owners.

NOAA Fisheries is required to draft a new salmon management plan for the federal waters of Cook Inlet — a contentious fishery that's been at the center of multiple lawsuits. Now, the agency is asking for input from the public.

Soldotna Rep. Justin Ruffridge has released an accompanying bill to one introduced in the Senate by Jesse Bjorkman. The bill would allow Cook Inlet set-netters to sell their permits back to the state.

The lack of action means a plan to delegate management of the fishery to the federal government will head to the feds for approval — a plan fishermen and council members say could severely restrict the fishery.

At its April meeting, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will consider possible ways to move forward with management of Upper Cook Inlet’s federal waters — which the federal council voted to close to commercial salmon fishing in 2020.

The company is planning to add three wells — two gas development wells and one combination gas development and oil exploration well — to its Ninilchik pad.

We spoke with fisheries economist Gunnar Knapp and set-netter Brent Johnson about trends in Upper Cook Inlet's commercial salmon fishery — from changes in catches and permit prices, to how those numbers track with those coming from Bristol Bay, to how fishermen are reacting to the changing landscape in the inlet.