Board of Fisheries saga continues

Things are happening in a hurry with fisheries, including a little friction on the Board of Fisheries makeup, and it’s only February!

A front page story in last Tuesday’s Frontiersman opened the discussion.

First, we learned Bob Mumford has tendered his BOF resignation, effective at the end of this board cycle year, after only serving one year of a three-year appointment. Next, we learned Gov. Bill Walker has already appointed three new board members, if confirmed by the legislature, whose terms will begin July 1. Finally, we hear the Bristol Bay folks are upset because they lost “their” member and the potential replacement hails from the Kenai Peninsula.

The governor had difficulty finding an acceptable nominee after forcing Karl Johnstone off the BOF a year ago. On his third try, the governor appointed Bob Mumford to the board. At the time, Mumford held a seat on the Board of Game but had announced he would not be seeking reappointment. On June 30, Mumford’s seat on the BOG expired and on July 1, he officially began his term on the BOF. Because of the timing, Mumford did not go through the legislative confirmation process for the BOF seat.

In my column from May 29, 2015, I mentioned that Mumford might be a “fill-in” BOF member until the governor got his act together. I said that because, in conversations I had with Mumford during BOG meetings, I asked him about seeking reappointment. He told me then he would not accept a renomination because he wanted more time to be with his family and to enjoy his retirement. Those are the same reasons he stated for his resignation from the BOF. I understand completely and wish him well in the future.

The three new appointments the governor made are: Israel Payton, replacing Tom Kluberton, who is not seeking another term; Alan Cain, who steps in to replace Bob Mumford; and Robert Ruffner, who replaces Fritz Johnson. Johnson is from the Bristol Bay area and Ruffner hails from the Kenai-Soldotna area. The fact that the Bristol Bay area lost their seat on the BOF has ruffled some feathers there. Southeast Alaska got a little testy a few years ago when Bill Brown of Juneau resigned and was replaced by Reed Morisky from Fairbanks, but things settled down eventually.

Seats on the BOF have historically followed the pattern of: one from Bristol Bay; one from the Interior; two from Southeast; one from Kodiak; and two from Southcentral. The mixture has also informally followed the structure of three sport fish, one subsistence, and three commercial fish-oriented members, but nothing is set in stone.

When I was on the BOF, I disliked the labeling, but it’s a fact of life. Payton and Cain are considered to be “sporties,” while Ruffner is considered to be “commercial.” Personally, I feel those labels are inappropriate for both Cain and Ruffner, while Payton, who brings a sport-oriented background to the board, doesn’t see the world in sport verses commercial, but rather puts the health and protection of the resource first.

I have known both Payton and Cain for several years and I have the utmost respect for their commitment to put the resource first and fight the allocation battles after the health of the specific fishery is protected. I don’t know Ruffner that well, but I did speak with him several times over the phone when he was up for confirmation to replace Johnstone last spring. While he lost the legislative confirmation vote 29-30 then, I still think he would make a good board member. He brings a strong background of working in fish habitat issues, an understanding of which is important to the management process.

The fact that the Bristol Bay commercial fisheries oriented BOF member was replaced by a person from the Kenai Peninsula who is perceived to also be commercially oriented could raise some interesting issues within the commercial sector concerning knowledge and representation of regional fisheries. Again, the labeling causes problems because BOF members are not supposed to be lobbyists for their respective areas and interests, but rather advocates for the proper management of the fisheries resources statewide with allocation to the affected user groups being secondary.

But, that’s life in an ideal world!

For the record, Roland Maw, the governor’s first choice to replace Johnstone a year ago, has pleaded not guilty in a Juneau court to 17 felony and misdemeanor criminal charges regarding Permanent Fund Dividend fraud and commercial fishing license purchases. We’ll watch how that plays out.

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.