Stocks are of concern

I plan to write about fisheries issues as the main topic in this column, but a few other things need to be mentioned first. The general moose season ended this past Wednesday for most areas of the state. If you’re wondering, no, my wife Debby didn’t fill her antlerless tag. I don’t think we are alone here.

I saw a listing for the Alaska Gun Collectors Association (AGCA) fall gun show scheduled for the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer the weekend of Oct. 5-6. Watch for an announcement in the newspaper or listen on the radio for more specifics and plan to attend if you can.

The final point before my main topic is that Secretary of State John Kerry signed the United Nations Arms Control Treaty this past Wednesday. The treaty has no effect in this country until it is ratified by the U.S. Senate, and that is not expected to happen in the near future. But here’s the rub: if control of the Senate ever falls to anti-gun proponents, this treaty could be ratified, effectively subverting our Second Amendment rights. The fact that it’s been signed means it will always be hanging out there, waiting for ratification, even if that doesn’t happen for years.

Your voting for pro-gun Senate candidates from now on becomes even more important because of this action by the Obama Administration. One negative aspect of the treaty will require what amounts to international gun registration of individuals purchasing civilian firearms imported from another country. That would affect shotguns, rifles and handguns made by Beretta, Taurus and CZ, just to mention a few big names in the sporting firearms field in this country. Think about that for a minute and let the significance sink in.

Now, on to fisheries issues. The Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF) is getting ready to begin this year’s cycle of meetings. As the board does every year, a workshop meeting is the first gathering and serves as an organizational meeting for the rest of the year as well as the meeting where stock of concern status and escapement goals for fisheries falling in that year’s cycle are discussed and acted upon. This year’s cycle involves, among others, all Cook Inlet salmon fisheries.

As I have written before, our Northern District of Cook Inlet has the majority of salmon stocks of concern statewide (seven out of 12 last I looked). We have had problems over the past several years achieving even the minimum number of salmon to meet the escapement goals of several stocks of king, silver and sockeye salmon in the district.

This past season saw better returns of both king and silver salmon in many Northern District stocks. However, the question has been raised about stock of concern status for most of these stocks for some very common sense reasons. Imagine a silver salmon stock that has failed to make minimum returns for four consecutive years, which meets the requirement to be declared a stock of concern, and finally does make escapement the fifth year. Does that mean this stock is healthy enough to not be declared a stock of concern?

How about some king salmon stocks that have also failed to make minimum escapements for years and suddenly make the goal, but only by less than 100 fish and then only because all sport harvest of that stock has been closed for the entire season. Does that by-the-skin-of-their-teeth accomplishment make these stocks healthy enough to not be declared stocks of concern?

Who has the authority to propose the stock of concern designation for a stock of fish: Fish and Game, the BOF, the public, another government agency or any combination of the above?

These are some of the questions the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission (MSBFWC) has raised in its meetings and have been formally asked of the BOF for this upcoming workshop scheduled for Oct. 9-10 in Girdwood at Alyeska Resort. The MSBFWC is hoping the BOF will take these and other related questions up for discussion to give much needed clarification to the practical implementation of the Sustainable Salmon Fisheries Policy (SSFP) regulation from which these questions originated.

For the record, the silver salmon question applies to the Little Susitna River, and the king salmon question applies to several stocks like Montana Creek. The authority to propose question comes from a legal opinion that has not been followed in prior BOF meetings.

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.