Poor returns, stocking discussed at fish forum

WASILLA — For Joe Wright, president of the Deshka Landing Outdoors Association, the way he feels about fish management is simple.

“I just want to see it there for the next generation,” he told a group the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau assembled for a March 8 panel discussion.

If closing off rivers to fishing to let the fish have time to rebound can accomplish that, he’ll take the hit. But the opinion in the room seemed to be skeptical on whether that was enough.

Sam Ivey with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said that, right now, ocean temperatures are lower than they were during periods of high abundance for salmon in Mat-Su. From 1997 to 2000, he said, temperatures out there were warmer, meaning more king salmon were able to survive and return to the rivers.

He said escapement goals — the target number of fish that fisheries managers want to see escape un-caught — are important.

“When you start to miss them several years in a row it starts to become a pretty big deal,” he said.

But he said he’s hopeful that the state seems poised to get a lot of information about local streams. There are studies going on as the state looks into the possibility of a dam on the Susitna River. There’s also talk of a study of young fish leaving the river to head out to the ocean.

Much of this push for research seems to be in reaction to the low returns.

“A lot of times it takes a brush fire to start a research project,” Ivey said.

Andy Couch, a Mat-Su fishing guide who was going to leave the meeting and head out for an ice fishing client, said that business has been slow and the lack of fish might make it tougher on other industries as well — hotels and lodges, for example.

A question from the audience asked what effect it would have on his business if the fish he was catching were stocked fish rather than wild fish.

“Most of my clients wouldn’t know if it was a stocked salmon or a wild salmon, they’d just be happy to have the fish,” Couch said.

Frankie Barker with the Mat-Su Borough said that might not be the solution some people seem to think it is.

“Hatcheries are a short-term fix, but they may mask some of the long-term problems,” she said.

Ivey said the state is looking into stocking, but might not have all the money it needs.

“If I could get enough brood stock first I’d like to beef up our stocking of Willow Creek,” he said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.