Now is the time to think fish and the future

Now that the first sportsmen’s show in Alaska is history, it’s time to look forward to the biggest sportsmen’s show in Alaska, which is ongoing at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. The show started yesterday and runs through Sunday.

There are all kinds of seminars and venders and things to see and do. I’ll be helping out at the ADF&G Hunter Education (HE) booth Saturday afternoon, so if you get a chance stop by and say hi. You can also try your hand shooting the laser rifles HE provides while you’re there.

While we’re talking sportsmen’s shows, I want to mention the message we were trying to get out to the public at our Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission (MSBFWC) booth this past weekend. Bruce Knowles, our commission chairman, and I passed out more than 100 cards with the governor’s email address and phone number. We were asking people to contact the governor and tell him to direct ADF&G to keep the commercial drift gillnet fleet out of the center of Cook Inlet during the commercial fishing season this coming summer.

Here’s why in a nutshell. All the reds, coho, chum and pinks tend to run together up the center of the inlet when they are returning to spawn. All the Cook Inlet river systems’ fish are mixed together in what is called a mixed stock fishery. The majority of fish are headed for the Kenai/Kasilof systems, but our northern-bound fish are in that mix as well. When the drifters target those areas to fish, they catch everybody’s fish, not just Kenai/Kasilof fish.

We have been below minimum escapement levels of sockeye to the Susitna/Yentna systems for at least 20 of the past 25 years, with a continuing decline in actual numbers returning to that system, as measured by the index system ADF&G is currently using. The Little Susitna system has failed to make minimum escapement on coho for the past four years, resulting in early season closures to protect the few fish actually returning.

The Deshka weir counted the lowest return of coho in 2012 ever recorded, only about a quarter of normal return numbers. Since no escapement goals for chum or pink salmon even exist in the Northern District, the impact of the commercial harvest is unknown on these stocks.

The bulk of these “missing” northern-bound fish are being caught in the drift fleet’s nets. This human taking is on top of the two 100- to 500-year floods we’ve had in 2006 and 2012. The damage done by these two floods naturally, combined with the poor escapement numbers, may have already placed some smaller Northern District salmon stocks on the road to extinction.

The Board of Fisheries (BOF) modified the drift fleet management plan in 2011 to allow the fleet to concentrate its efforts on catching primarily Kenai/Kasilof fish by changing areas and times where and when the fleet can fish, and creating an “expanded corridor” that allows the fleet to concentrate efforts on catching the stocks they are most concerned about — the Kenai/Kasilof fish.

This should have been a “win-win” for everybody, but ADF&G has yet to actually follow the plan and have stated they will probably manage this year’s commercial fishery similarly to last year’s if the forecasts are similar; and the forecasts of returning fish in 2013 are just that.

If you would like to actually see some fish return to the Northern District in 2013, email or call the governor and tell him to keep the fleet out of the center of the inlet so northern-bound fish can escape the commercial nets. The email is governor@ alaska.gov. The phone number for Juneau is (9070 465-3500 and for Anchorage (907) 269-7450.

The Board of Game (BOG) made some changes to our area’s hunting regulations at their meeting in Wasilla last month. ADF&G has a handout available at their office in Palmer that summarizes the changes made. These changes don’t take effect until July 1, 2013, so will have no effect on this spring’s seasons. Some of the changes won’t become effective until 2014.

Species affected include brown bear in GMUs 13 and 16; caribou in GMUs 13 and 14; moose in GMUs 13, 14, and 16; sheep in GMU 14; and coyote in GMUs 13, 14, and 16. The BOG also defined what a “spike bull” moose is and changed the so-called hot spot hunt designation to “targeted” and defined that term.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.