SPECTRUM: Keeping an Eye on Fishery Management for Upper Cook Inlet

Our Matanuska-Susitna Borough Fish & Wildlife Commission continues to do the painstaking, honorable work of demanding justifications from the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game on its management of our struggling fisheries in Northern Cook Inlet.

ADF&G’s management decisions and the Alaska Board of Fisheries policies continue to put commercial interests over the sport fisherman’s. The angler group is a large one to ignore. Some 116,000 residents were licensed sport fishing anglers in Mat-Su, Anchorage, and Kenai in 2016. A Statewide harvest survey shows that in 2016 on just the Kenai Peninsula freshwater some 133,319 visits occurred by anglers, including licensed fishermen, kids, seniors, and tourists. And yet, in the Upper Cook Inlet area, more than 80 percent of the salmon harvest is caught by just 1,300 limited entry commercial permit holders, while less than 20 percent of the salmon harvest is allocated to the sport anglers and the 30,000 personal use fishery households (dipnetters).

On March 13, by emergency order, the ADF&G Dept. closed the harvest of king salmon on the Deshka and the Yentna rivers this summer to catch and release while closing all fishing for kings throughout the remainder of the Susitna drainage. Another order also imposed sport fishing gear restrictions on the Little Susitna River. Not only is that bad news for more than 30 businesses that rely on booking fishing trips, selling lodging, selling gear, fuel, and groceries but it’s also late news.

By contrast, ADF&G had notified commercial fishermen in Upper Cook Inlet of their pre-season forecast for the sockeye fishery much earlier, in November. That four-month lag in providing the sport pre-season forecast is unacceptable. And hopefully the conservative decision to limit this summer’s Mat-Su king fishing won’t prove to be too harsh as was the case last year for the Copper River king salmon fishery, which did better than forecasted.

I applaud ADF&G Commissioner Sam Cotten and his directors for attending the March 15 meeting at the Borough with our Fish Commissioners. Managing for sustainability of the fisheries is a serious responsibility, they said. We agree. Let’s play fair, however, and share the sport fishing information earlier. Our businesses deserve the same respect that commercial fisheries are given. In fact we’re short a plan that commercial fishing has for sockeye. Some members of our Mat-Su Fish & Wildlife Commission continue to ask for a management plan that governs all Susitna River drainage king salmon sport fisheries. ADF&G has until now ignored the idea and may see it as formidable. However, for five years the Dept. has been managing with certain triggers for management that surely could go into a plan so anglers can know what fishing opportunities to expect.

Keeping the Fish Board Fair

Last August, an ADF&G emergency order closed the Little Susitna River to bait fishing, while more than 50 miles south the commercial drift gillnetters harvested 88,000 cohos in just two days of district-wide fishing. That disparity in access to fish occurred because of a vote at the Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting last March. The vote allowed more commercial fishing time in a protected corridor that was designed to allow more fish to pass north. That’s what’s at stake when it comes to representation on this 7-member panel. So it alarmed us when Gov. Walker’s choice appeared to tip the balance of the Board. He nominated a commercial fisherman from Kodiak to fill a seat soon to be vacated by a sport fishing representative from Anchorage. That will be different geographies represented and a different fishing focus. While the Kodiak nominee is a worthy one for a future commercial seat, for this open sport fishing seat, the Mat-Su Fish Commission supports Ben Mulligan who has a biology background and experience working in the legislative and executive branches. If the governor’s nominee is confirmed by the Legislature, it could mean fewer fish available for all in-river users. I urge the Legislature to oppose this appointment.

Return Fairness to Meeting Locations

It appears a snaky maneuver when the Alaska Board of Fisheries moved the most important meeting on Cook Inlet finfish to Kenai at the last minute. The Board had already considered moving the 2020 meeting and all sides weighed in. The Board took a vote and agreed to keep it in neutral Anchorage. But recently, on the last day of a Fish Board meeting and conveniently after a dissenting voice on the Board had to leave, the Board voted to move the meeting to Kenai. The Mat-Su has never hosted this important meeting on fishing regulations for its region. Kenai already has hosted and is far from Alaska’s population center.

The sum of the parts does not add up to fairness. The late pre-season forecast, the Fish Board nominee, the change of venue for the important Upper Cook Inlet 2020 meeting all point to hard times coming for sports fishermen unless we keep tedious watch on this complex subject.

And so it becomes very clear how truly important our team of volunteers is on the Borough’s Fish & Wildlife Commission. Among other important people, the team includes a veteran fish guide, a commercial setnetter, and two retired ADF&G biologists, both of whom are former members of that highly esteemed Alaska Board of Fisheries. With each niggling question, each meeting with the Commissioner, each call-out on different standards, the Mat-Su Fish Commission is protecting our fisheries. I’m so grateful that they don’t let notice slip away.

— Vern Halter is the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor