Behind the scenes of the fish wars

The fish wars never seem to slow down, let alone stop. Here’s the latest I have learned about some of the maneuvering going on with the Board of Fisheries.

The BOF usually sets its meeting locations two years in advance at the annual workshop meeting to allow the support folks time to book venues and make other necessary arrangements in support of the meeting. At last October’s work session, the BOF, after much discussion, voted to hold the next Upper Cook Inlet meeting in Anchorage despite requests from the Kenai/Soldotna area to hold it there.

At the recently completed Southeast Finfish meeting in Sitka, the topic of where to hold the next UCI meeting was brought up, apparently out of the blue, and discussed during miscellaneous business at the end of the meeting. No public notice was given that this topic was coming up. In fact, the executive director of the BOF, when contacted by email about this, was not sure if the topic would be discussed or not!

The members of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission suspected this could happen based on the Kenai/Soldotna folks pressuring the BOF over the past several years for the meeting. However, we didn’t think there was a high probability the topic would be revisited at a meeting in Sitka.

It was!

At the Sitka meeting, the BOF voted to revisit the location of the UCI meeting at their upcoming early March meeting in Anchorage. If you wish to submit written comments on this topic to the board, the deadline to send “on time” comments is Feb. 23. See the BOF website for details and further information.

John Jensen is the current chair of the BOF and has held a seat on the board for at least 15 years. He was there when I was on the board. Jensen has always consistently voted to hold the UCI meeting in Anchorage. Jensen has recently told some people that he planned to apply for a seat on the federal North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. The announcement of the appointee is scheduled to happen sometime after this last Anchorage BOF meeting for the year.

Back when Gov. Bill Walker was candidate for his office, he met with the commercial fishing interests from the Kenai/Soldotna area soliciting campaign funding and support toward his election as governor. One of his promises was to have the BOF hold their UCI meeting in the Kenai/Soldotna area. He also did his best to have Roland Maw appointed to the BOF and/or be appointed Commissioner of ADF&G.

Both of those attempts failed when Maw came under indictment for lying about his residency, claiming both Montana and Alaska residency as the purposes suited him. Maw has already been convicted under Montana law and is awaiting trial for defrauding the Alaska PFD program and other infractions of Alaska Law.

Now, back to Jensen and his expected request to be appointed to the NPFMC. I have been told by reliable sources that Jensen has met with the governor and the governor has reiterated that he still wants the UCI BOF meeting to be held in the Kenai/Soldotna area. I have also been told that Jensen was the driving force in bringing up, at the Sitka meeting and out of cycle, the new discussion about where to hold the UCI meeting.

What does all this stuff have in common?

I’ll give you one guess who forwards nominations to the federal folks to represent Alaska on the NPFMC.

That’s right: the governor does!

I have it on good authority that Jensen is still on record as wanting the UCI meeting to remain in Anchorage. My guess is that he brought up the topic to glean more public input, thus demonstrating to the governor that he listened during their meeting.

On a totally different topic, don’t forget the Matanuska Valley Sportman’s Association gun show scheduled to be held at Raven Hall on the Alaska State Fairgrounds. The show runs tomorrow and Sunday, starting at 10 am and running until 5 p.m.

On another topic, I finally got my snowmachine in for some necessary repair and maintenance work at the repair shop last week. I need the machine to get out and try to fill my DC485 caribou permit. I also plan to use the machine for some ice fishing and to just get out and ride. Life got in the way for a time but I’m ready to go riding again.

It clears my head!

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This column is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications. You can leave Delo a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.