Deckboss finally found some time this afternoon to drop by the big Board of Fisheries meeting on Upper Cook Inlet finfish issues.
Although the meeting is scheduled to last into Saturday, commercial fishermen told me they've already been routed.
They said sportfishing interests today and yesterday won board approval of proposals that will seriously limit access to salmon for drift gillnetters as well as setnetters.
David Martin, president of United Cook Inlet Drift Association, estimates the drifters will lose 30 to 40 percent of their catch.
Board member John Jensen, a Petersburg commercial fisherman, confirmed the commercial boys are "having a rough go of it" at this meeting.
Proposals 126, 143 and 147 were among those the board passed, after amendments. You can find and read the original proposals here. They're quite complex, but in general the objective is to restrict commercial fisheries to allow more king, sockeye and coho salmon to pass through for the benefit of anglers and dipnetters, and to reach the inlet's Northern District.
The Kenai River Sportfishing Association and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor's Blue Ribbon Sportsmen's Committee offered the proposals.