UFA neutral on habitat permitting system

Editor’s Note: In the story that ran in the Nov. 22 issue of the Frontiersman, it was erroneously reported that the United Fishermen of Alaska supported HB199. We apologize for the error.

Alaska’s largest commercial fishing organization, United Fishermen of Alaska, says it does not endorse, or oppose, a proposed ballot initiative to create a new salmon habitat permitting system.

“We do not have a position on managing salmon by the ballot box,” or a bill, House Bill 199 in the Legislature, that would to accomplish the same purpose, said UFA’s president, Jerry McCune, in an e-mail.

The Frontiersman incorrectly reported last week that UFA supports the ballot initiative, called “Stand for Salmon,” along with certain sport fishing groups including Trout Unlimited and some fish harvester groups.

McCune said that is incorrect, although the organization is on record supporting recommendations of the Alaska Board of Fisheries earlier this year.

Supporters of the initiative and bill said the fisheries board’s recommendations led to the ballot proposition and HB 199, they told the House Special Committee on Fisheries in a hearing last April.

Critics of the initiative and bill, however, say the those proposals went beyond what the fisheries board suggestions, such as improved steps for public notice on habitat permits.

In a letter written in April to the House Special Committee on Fisheries UFA said it supports the board recommendation but made no mention of the ballot initiative or HB 199.

An intense fight over the initiative and HB 199 has embroiled the state’s resource development industries, who oppose the proposals, and Bristol Bay groups who oppose the planned Pebble copper/gold mine and who see the ballot proposition or bill as a way to stop the mine.

Not all Bristol Bay groups agree with the initiative however, including Bristol Bay Native Corp., which opposes Pebble and the ballot proposition. State officials say other mines than Pebble could be affected, such as the large Donlin Gold project near the Kuskokwim River, along with major state highway projects, if the initiative or HB 199 were to become law.

The proposed ballot proposition and bill would establish a complex new state permitting system to replace the state’s currentanadromous stream permit issued by the state Dept. of Fish and Game, or ADF&G.

Anadromous stream permits are issued by ADF&G when a construction project affects a stream or water body that supports migrating fish like salmon. One change the initiative and bill would make is classifying all streams and water bodies in the state as anadromous whether they support salmon.

That would vastly expand the number of streams and waters requiring permits, but the initiatives would also establish rigorous procedure of review similar to federal Environmental Impact Statements with consideration of alternatives, public hearings and procedures for appeals.