Columnist calls for emergency petition to Alaska Board of Fisheries

Consider this week’s column an Emergency Petition to Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Sam Cotten and the Alaska Board of Fisheries to restore the Northern Management Area sport king salmon fisheries to standard regulations listed in the 2016 Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations Summary.

Way back in February the department declared emergency king salmon outlooks for the Northern Sport Fish Management Area so dire that it was necessary to close all sport king salmon harvest in Susitna River Drainage Unit 1 (except Deshka River), Unit 2 that area from Deshka River to Talkeetna River, Unit 3 the Susitna Drainage upstream of the Talkeetna River and downstream of Oshetna River, Unit 5 the Talkeetna River drainage, Unit 6 the Chulitna River drainage, and also the Talachulitna Drainage in Unit 4 from May 1 to July 13. In addition emergency restrictions were placed on Deshka River, /Little Susitna River, and Yentna River drainage waters that remained open to sport king salmon harvest.

Since that time in response to an emergency petition submitted by the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee requesting a corresponding 50 percent harvest time reduction in the Northern District set net fishery for the nine commercial periods that occur between May 1- July 13, Cotten ruled on April 19 that there was no emergency and that a full season of commercial harvest would not threaten king salmon spawning escapements levels of Northern Management Area king salmon stocks.

However, to address the Advisory Committees concern about equitable sharing of the Northern District king salmon conservation among user groups ADF&G was reducing Only the first of nine commercial periods by 50 percent harvest time. That restriction ended on May 30 and the Northern District Commercial set net fishery is now fishing all commercial time through July 13 without any further restriction.

Since the commissioner declared in his April 19 letter to the Advisory Committee that there was no king salmon spawning escapement emergency, and since the commercial fishery returned to standard fishing regulations after May 30, and since the Upper Cook Inlet marine sport fishery has no emergency restrictions to protect Northern Management Area king salmon stocks this petition therefore meets the requirement of, “An unforeseen, unexpected resource situation where a biologically allowable resource harvest would be precluded by delayed regulatory action and such delay would be significantly burdensome to the petitions because the resource would be unavailable in the future.”

After all if there is no biological emergency, as declared by Cotten, who could have foreseen that the department would continue to restrict Northern Management Area sport and guided sport users after all other user groups had returned to standard harvest regulations for these same king salmon stocks?

Other ADF&G measurements of Northern Management Area abundance for 2016 include: The department’s Deshka River king salmon outlook called for a return in the 24,000 fish range, and ADF&G has never failed to meet the Deshka River king salmon escapement goal every time it has projected an outlook exceeding 21,000 fish. This begs the question why was the Deshka River annual sport king salmon limit emergency reduced by 60 perecent in the first place? And why was that reduction not superseded back to standard annual limit of five fish as soon as Cotten determined there really was no biological king salmon escapement emergency? In the 22 years of posted Deshka River weir counts on the ADF&G website, 2016 ranks as the second highest return of king salmon through the weir during the month of May.

In 2016, 2,634 kings swam past ADF&G’s weir in May. Compare that to the other two highest May weir counts: In 2003 2,739 kings passed the weir in May with the total run exceeding 40,000 fish, and in 2004 when 1,817 passed the weir during May and the king run exceeded 57,000 fish (and ADF&G liberalized the sport fishery beyond standard regulations starting in May.)

Comparable to 2016, 2003 was also an extremely early spring break up year.

Why then, does the Deshka River annual limit remain restricted below standard regulation in 2016?

Consider also that for years ADF&G has declared Deshka River a gross indicator of king salmon abundance throughout the Susitna River drainage. As mentioned in the above paragraph, 2016 is showing the second largest May king salmon passage on record past Deshka River weir. This certainly would indicate an above average king salmon return year — if not a far above king salmon return year.

If that is the indicator from then Deshka weir, and since Cotten has already ruled their is no Northern District biological king salmon escapement emergency, and since no other user groups are currently under emergency restrictions, why have not the remainder of Susitna River drainage Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 waters returned to standard sport king salmon regulations?

I request the Commissioner and Board of Fisheries also consider the Little Sustina River sport fishery.

ADF&G’s 2015 Little Sustina River king salmon weir count was the second highest on record with a high percentage of younger age king salmon that indicates the 2016 run could be considerable larger, when those fish that remained at sea return as the next older year class of spawners. Although the Little Susitna River king salmon weir count for the month of May was much smaller than the Deshka River weir count, the count of 53 kings passing the weir during May is the largest on record for Little Susitna River.

Combined with Cotten’s ruling that there is no Northern District king salmon biological escapement emergency, and the fact that no other user groups are restricted in harvesting Little Susitna River king salmon the obvious question remains. Why does the Little Susitna River sport king salmon fishery remain restricted?

Finally I request the board consider the amount of seasonal harvest time reduction already inflicted on the Northern Management Area king salmon sport fisheries between May 1 — July 13. As of May 31 all Little Susitna River drainage and Susitna River drainage waters (except Deshka River) have already lost at minimum of 41 percent of the standard regulation harvest time. In comparison, the Northern District commercial fishery lost only 5.6 percent of its harvest time scheduled between May 1 and July 13. I would think at very least ADF&G should develop and make public a plan of when the Northern Management Area sport king salmon fisheries will return to standard regulations.

In light of facts listed above I respectfully request an immediate return to standard sport king salmon regulations to Northern Management waters of the Little Susitna River and Susitna River drainages.

Andy Couch is a Mat-Su Valley salmon fishing guide, a member of the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee, a member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission, and a former ADF&G seasonal employee, but the views expressed in this column are entirely his own. 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.