Mat-Su agendas a cause of concern for Kenai fisheries

Last year the Legislature establish a Cook Inlet Salmon Task Force based on the assumptions that tourism and sport fishing had become more economically beneficial to Cook Inlet’s economy and should have a management priority over commercial fishing.

About that same time, Mat-Su leaders convened a Blue Ribbon Sportsman’s Committee operating on the premise that population increases in the Valley, along with its proximity to Anchorage, demanded the need for more fish to be allowed to reach northern Inlet streams for tourists and sport fishermen to catch.

Both of these organizations feel there is a need for more fish in Valley streams and the way to accomplish this is to reduce or eliminate the commercial fishing effort. The Legislative Task Force has been exploring the idea of a buy back program of commercial drift fleet permits, while the Sportsman’s Committee suggests restricting the Central District drift fishery, focusing the commercial effort closer to shore near the mouths of natal streams. This would raise havoc on the Kenai and Kasilof personal use and chinook sport fisheries and complicate the management of our mixed stock fisheries.

The truth is that the total Cook Inlet commercial harvests only take about 50 percent of the total Cook Inlet sockeye run and less than 10 percent of chinook, coho, pinks and chums. It should be understood that any increases to the Valley streams would only be incrementally noticeable.

The assumption that Valley fish runs are somehow depleted is false. A look at the data will tell you quite the opposite. The task force has received information from ADF&G that after three years of comparisons between the Yentna Bendix sonar and actual weir counts, that the Bendix has been counting much less than half of the sockeye run over the past 20 years. As for the chinook and coho runs, they speak for themselves. Except for last year’s event in the Deshka chinook run, the Valley streams have a history of strong returns for both of these species.

Records indicate that the total sockeye sport fishing harvest for all Mat-Su streams is less than 10,000 fish, while at the same time Valley and Anchorage residents enjoy the harvest of hundreds of thousand of sockeye from the Kenai and Kasilof fisheries. Personal use applications indicate that about 70 percent of permit holders are from the greater Anchorage/Mat-Su area, and a 2007 survey by the city of Kenai showed that of the 6,330 surveyed, approximately 90 percent were from outside the Kenai Peninsula area. These folks also enjoy the lion’s share of our plentiful sockeye sport fishery. This should illustrate how important the Kenai fisheries are to Valley folks and why it is important to balance management decisions to safeguard these stocks.

Those of us who are private anglers and personal use fishermen rely on stable and sustainable sockeye runs to fill our freezers. The Kenai and Kasilof sockeye runs depend on managing within set escapement ranges to reduce the incidents of both under-escapement as well as over-escapement, wherein both can result in lower future returns. Because of over-escapement in years 2003 – 2007, the Kenai run was well below average in 2008 and forecasters tell us we can expect reduced run strengths and possible restrictions to all users for the next several years. These swings in productivity and resulting restrictions can be reduced if we insist on escapement goal management. Records show that during these years of abundance, the liberalization of the sport and personal use harvests have not been effective in reducing the surplus fish adequately, even with an active commercial fishery.

The main problem Valley residents face in their desire to harvest more fish is access. By natures design and road locations, the Susitna and Little Susitna systems make access difficult as they sustain hundreds of feeder streams and lakes where there is no access. In places where there is access, crowding can result in undesirable conditions that many anglers shy away from. The Mat-Su area desperately needs more access points and boat launches. The Kenai, on the other hand, is very accessible and easily accommodates the personal use and sport fisheries with maximized harvest opportunities.

Salmon reproduction is another issue that needs to be addressed. Some of the salmon-rearing lakes in the Mat-Su are suffering from the spread of invasive pike, pollution and stream blockage from decaying culverts and beaver dams. Over the last few years ADF&G has established weirs on seven of the most reproductive lakes to assess fish passage numbers. There are plans to expand the number of weirs this summer and incorporate smolt and fry count research as well. We should congratulate the department on their proactive approach to addressing these issues so we can move forward to correcting the problems as soon as possible.

These discussions should not be about the economic well being of one resource area against another. Instead they should focus on securing funding for scientifically based studies and long range planning to improve the predictability of our fishery resources for current and future generations to enjoy.

Dwight Kramer is private angler and personal use fisherman who resides in Kenai and is an active participant in the Upper Cook Inlet, Board of Fisheries process.