Governor continues to meddle in Board of Fisheries affairs

Three major items are happening in the fisheries world. I’ll mention two for now. The Board of Fisheries has voted to hold the 2020 Upper Cook Inlet meeting in the Kenai/Soldotna area and king fishing in the Northern District has become but a fleeting thought for the 2018 season. I’ll mention more about the king fishing situation later.

The BOF initially voted in October, 2017, to hold the 2020 UCI meeting in Anchorage. There was a healthy discussion about locations and meeting costs, where the bulk of the UCI users resided, accessibility to the meeting for most users, and more. As I recall, the vote was 4 to 3 to hold the meeting in Anchorage. I hoped this would be the last word on the subject for a while.

Obviously, it was not!

Gov. Bill Walker, while campaigning, met with commercial fishing groups in the Kenai area. He promised, if elected, to try and get a full regulatory BOF meeting in the Kenai/Soldotna location. The BOF, for several reasons, has resisted holding a regulatory meeting on the Peninsula.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, the chairman of the BOF had a meeting with either the governor or the fish and game commissioner, serving as the governor’s messenger. The governor wanted the BOF to hold another vote on the location of the UCI meeting. The BOF chair brought this up at the Sitka meeting with no public notice and, I have been told, a vote almost happened. Cooler minds prevailed, and the topic was scheduled for the recently completed BOF meeting in Anchorage.

After another discussion about meeting locations, the board voted to hold the 2020 meeting on the Peninsula. The vote was 4 to 2, with one member absent for that vote.

So, what’s the problem here?

First, I would raise the point of exactly when is a board decision final? I testified at that meeting raising the finality point and further suggested that the board take up the topic again, in cycle, and decide in favor or against a proposal one board member had drafted regarding a meeting location rotation cycle for the UCI meeting. My testimony fell on deaf ears!

Another, and even larger problem I have with this is the governor’s meddling in board affairs. The BOF chairman was looking for a nomination to a federal fisheries regulatory board and the governor, who makes that nomination, used that to push his agenda on meeting location. This is an election year and fulfilling this campaign promise could get the governor some much needed political support.

I would fault the BOF chair for caving to the governor’s “suggestion,” but most people would do the same thing in a similar position. In his favor, the chair still voted to keep the meeting in Anchorage. I find much greater fault with the governor for his interference with board procedure.

The BOF is supposed to be non-political. This type of out-of-cycle meddling undermines public confidence in board decisions. The issue of deciding where to hold the meeting pales in comparison to the awkward procedural process used to make that decision.

This past Tuesday, both the Commercial Fisheries Division and the Sport Fish Division of Fish and Game finally issued the 2018 season opening king salmon regulations for the Northern District. The short version has the Northern District setnet commercial fishery closed through the duration of the directed king salmon portion of the season.

On the sport fish side of things, the entire Susitna River drainage is closed to king salmon harvest. Only catch-and-release sport fishing will be allowed on the Deshka and Yentna Rivers.

According to the news release: "Since 2007, the king salmon returns to the Susitna River have been below average and the trend is expected to continue in 2018," stated Area Management Biologist Sam Ivey.The Little Susitna River will have some limited king salmon harvest. Fishing for king salmon is allowed; however, king salmon may only be retained on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. King salmon may not be retained on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and any king salmon caught on these days may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately.The annual limit of two king salmon 20 inches or longer is areawide. The total annual limit of king salmon 20 inches or longer taken from fresh waters of Cook Inlet remains at five, while only two may be from the Little Susitna River drainage.

The Eklutna Tailrace is excluded from all restrictions.

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.