ANCHORAGE — A state judge ruled in favor of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in the lawsuit regarding the 2013 Cook Inlet salmon fisheries.

The Cook Inlet Fisherman's Fund, or CIFF, sued the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in July 2013, asserting that fisheries managers did not follow Cook Inlet salmon management plans appropriately that year and caused harm to commercial fishermen.

After hearing oral argument May 29, Judge Andrew Guidi granted the state's motion for summary judgment June 2. He wrote in his final decision that there was no evidence that ADFG had "exceeded its authority in executing the emergency plan promulgated by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. Specifically, the Fund has failed to articulate any concrete way in which the Department overstepped its management authority other than the claim — already rejected on motion for preliminary injunction — that the Fund's fishermen were entitled to 51 hours of extra fishing time by law."

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