Silence can be deadly for Northern District salmon

Last Friday, I explained why it is critical for as many residents of the Northern District of Cook Inlet as possible to show up at the Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF) meeting to be held at the Egan Center in Anchorage from Jan. 31 to Feb. 13. That same day, the Chairman of the BOF, Karl Johnstone, had a Compass column in the Anchorage Daily News asking for and encouraging folks to do the same.

If you missed Johnstone’s article, he explained that the more public input the BOF received from all affected users concerning the various issues of fisheries management in Cook Inlet the better the board can make more informed and improved regulations to address correcting some of these issues. In our case, that means telling the BOF how the lack of returning Northern District salmon runs has impacted economic, recreational and quality of life issues in the Valley.

If you can’t personally attend any of the BOF meetings, there are other ways you can make your concerns known. Written comments will be accepted by the board through next Friday, Jan.17, in Juneau. If you develop a written statement but can’t mail or FAX or email it to Juneau in time, I suspect dropping the statement off at the Palmer Fish and Game office by mid-week will get it in to the board process on time.

If you cannot make the Jan.17 deadline, you can still submit written comments, but the process becomes more difficult. After Jan.17 and up to the start of the actual meeting, any written comments are limited in length and you are responsible for making 27 copies when you submit the material. The purpose of the deadline is to allow staff to make the copies necessary to fill the board books distributed to each board member and staff seated at the table during the meeting. It also allows support staff to post the materials online for public viewing prior to the actual start of the meeting.

After the meeting starts, you can still submit written comments, but the length is even more restricted, you still need to make the 27 copies and you must submit the material in person at the meeting. You should also know that the longer you wait to provide written comments, the less likely the material will actually be available to board members for study. The best bet is to submit your comments prior to the Jan.17 deadline.

If you do submit written materials, here are a few hints on how to do so. Make sure you reference the specific proposal you are commenting on, be very clear and concise with your reasons why you either support or oppose the proposal or how you would amend the proposal to achieve the goal you think is important. If you are commenting on more than one proposal, begin your commentary of the second proposal on the same letter-sized sheet after you’ve finished the first proposal. Don’t use separate sheets for each proposal. Board members will be studying more than 5,000 pages of material for this meeting, so minimizing the copy will be appreciated by everyone involved.

I would strongly urge you to personally attend the actual meeting and sign up to make oral testimony to the board. You will learn a lot from listening to Fish and Game’s presentations to the board and you will hear a wide variety of perspectives on any given proposal by listening to the public testimony. You will also get a chance to talk personally with various board members during breaks and lunch or perhaps after the day’s activities have concluded.

You can find all the proposals that will be discussed at this meeting online at adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.main. On the left side, you will see “meeting information.” Click on it and you will see a listing of all the scheduled board meetings for the year. Click on the Upper Cook Inlet Finfish site and you will have access to all the written materials available to date for that meeting. If you are around a computer and not able to attend, you can also listen to a live streaming of the meeting audio while in session.

You have many ways to make your voice heard at this BOF meeting. Your silence could result in board decisions that will destroy salmon fishing in the Northern District and could negatively impact sport fishing everywhere in Southcentral Alaska. It really is that important for you to participate.

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.