Fisheries groups discuss management plans

A subcommittee of three members of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission met with the ADF&G Sport Fish Division managers from the Palmer office earlier this week to begin fleshing out some new proposed king salmon management plans for the Northern District. The Board of Fish should have these plans on their agenda for consideration at the next Upper Cook Inlet fisheries meeting in 2020.

Generally speaking, a fisheries management plan contains management intent guidelines, allocation strategies, methods and means, and areas and times governing either a specific location or a specific gear or user group or both. This plan is approved by the BOF and is used by the ADF&G managers in the seasonal management of a fisheries resource.

Cook Inlet has something like 14 to 16 such plans, which are used as guidelines by ADF&G for managing the various commercial, sport, personal use, and subsistence fisheries. Arguably, the biggest factor in a management plan lays out the allocation of the specific fishery to the various user groups.

Allocation of the fisheries resource is the responsibility of the BOF. ADF&G’s job is to conserve and manage the fishery according to the limits established by the management plan. This partnership approach removes the burden of allocation and all the political ramifications contained therein from the shoulders of Fish and Game and places it squarely on the BOF, where all regulations are developed in an open and public process.

The proposed plans would address Deshka River king salmon management; Little Susitna king salmon management; Susitna and Yentna Rivers, and the Eastside Systems king salmon management; and updates and additions to the Northern District king salmon management plan required by the passage of these new plans.

Both the Deshka and Little Susitna Rivers have decades of weir data on returning king salmon numbers and the other systems have been monitored by either aerial or foot survey counts for about as long. King salmon numbers in the Northern District have been in a downturn for over a decade and several stocks have been designated as Stocks of Concern. Establishing a management plan for some of these stocks should help better manage the numbers of returning fish.

Much of what is proposed in these new management plans is nothing more than spelling out current established management strategies and suggesting some new or more refined approaches depending on the strengths of the returns from year to year. Some pairing of restrictions between sport and commercial fisheries is stated to meet the Sustainable Salmon Fisheries Policy regulation of sharing the burden of conservation among user groups.

The MSBFWC has been asking for a Deshka River management plan for years. Over the last couple of years, Fish and Game has come around to seeing the need for a management plan and has committed to working with the commission to develop such a plan. The commission “took the bull by the horns” and wrote a draft plan with the aid and input of some professional fisheries consultants who work for the Kenai River Sportfishing Association. The draft plans are based on how other Cook Inlet plans are currently written.

These draft plans are what is providing the framework in working with Fish and Game to develop some good working documents which will aid both the department and the public in having an idea of what to expect from year to year as the king runs in the Northern District are, hopefully, brought back to a healthy status.

We are once again experiencing a taste of an Alaskan winter with near zero temperatures and the forecast of still more snow. It’s hard for me to think boating and open water but the 2019 Anchorage Boat Show begins today at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. The show runs through the weekend, opening daily at 10 am and closing at 8 pm today and tomorrow (Saturday) and at 6 pm on Sunday.

Some of the exhibitors/vendors who will be present include Alaska Mining & Diving Supply; Whittier Marine Charters; LFS Marine and Outdoor; Sea Tow; Homer Marine Trades Association; Nomar; Jetech; Alaska Raft & Kayak; and Fish Alaska Magazine.

Bundle up and make the trip into Anchorage to see the various boats, rafts, and assorted marine and safety gear on display. Learn about how to outfit your boat and what equipment you should have on board. Also pick up some on-the-water safety tips that will be displayed to keep you and your family coming back year after year to enjoy boating in Alaska.