Cook Inlet and Yukon River commercial fishermen could receive direct payments as part of the 2012 fishery disaster relief aid this fall.

According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration award notice, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission is set to receive $7.8 million for direct payments to commercial fishermen in the Yukon River and Cook Inlet regions. That money is intended to compensate them — at least partially — for losses from the 2012 salmon fisheries, which received a federal disaster declaration.

Pacific States Executive Director Randy Fisher said Aug. 15 that his organization had not yet been notified that they received the grant to make the direct payments, and that they were in the final stages of determining the criteria for receiving payments.

Once the criteria are finalized and the grant is received, Pacific States will send out applications to fishermen. Those will likely be due in mid-September, and payments within a few days of Pacific States receiving the completed applications.

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