Photos: Kenai prepares for hordes of dipnetters

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A front-end loader drives on the north beach of the Kenai River in Kenai on Tuesday, July 7, 2015. The City of Kenai spends more than $400,000 annually on the three-week personal use sockeye dipnet fishery, which begins on Friday, July 10 at 6 a.m. and concludes on July 31 at 11 p.m.

KENAI -- Aside from a few bored seagulls, the sandy beach at the mouth of the Kenai River was almost empty Tuesday afternoon. A young couple walked their dog near the surf beneath a blanket of high clouds split here and there by streaks of blue. Across Cook Inlet, the peak of Redoubt Volcano stood sentinel over the tranquil scene, its iconic peak the focal point of a view that's as central to the city's identity as Mount Ranier is to Seattle or the pyramids are to Cairo.

Suddenly, the tranquility was broken by the loud beep-beep-beep of a backhoe's back-up alarm, the arrival of heavy equipment moving concrete Jersey barriers signaling the beginning of an assault on the beach that will soon culminate in an all-out invasion by tens of thousands of salmon-crazed soldiers.

Soon the beaches will run red with blood.

The annual personal-use sockeye fishery at the mouth of the river has become something of a tradition among Alaska residents, who descend on this city of about 7,000 en masse each July in hopes of filling freezers with their allotment of bright red salmon fillets. But while the event is seen by many participants as a fun frolic that's equal parts summer camp and fish camp, the City of Kenai sees things a bit differently. For the people responsible for managing and maintaining the massive fishery, July means nonstop planning, problem solving and personnel management.

"On our busiest day we may have 15,000 people on the beach," said Rick Koch, Kenai's city manager.

Read more: Long-handled nets in hand, hordes of anglers prepare to storm Kenai beaches