Valley residents should speak up for state fish board

It’s no secret that fishermen like to talk. Luckily for anglers in Alaska, our state provides a forum for all who want to speak their minds on how fisheries regulations should be crafted. When the Alaska Board of Fisheries begins two weeks of meetings on Upper Cook Inlet issues today in Anchorage, its first order of business will be to take public testimony from anyone willing to speak up.

While it may seem that one voice may not make much difference in the sea of opinions that are likely to be shared during this phase of the meeting, the idea that anyone who wishes can have a say on fisheries rules is a unique one. Few states allow such open participation in how fishing rules are crafted, and Alaska residents are lucky to have such a process.

This isn’t to say the system is perfect. Opportunities are there for special interests and powerful user groups to have more of an influence over the process. At times, the largest and most powerful lobbying groups often emerge from BOF meetings with a larger piece of the action.

But what’s also true of the process is that board members can be swayed by passionate testimony from locals — the people who have precious anecdotal knowledge of fisheries and streams that board members, and even biologists, might not have.

That’s why it is imperative that anyone who has a concern with how fish resources in the Cook Inlet drainage are managed do their best to make it to Anchorage this weekend and speak up. This year’s deadline to sign up for public comment is 11 a.m. Saturday, and everyone who signs up will be heard. The board meets just once every three years on UCI issues, so anyone who wants to share knowledge will have to hold their tongue for a long while if they don’t have a say this time around.

Perhaps more any other meeting, this year’s BOF promises to have large impacts for residents of the Mat-Su.

That’s because salmon resources in the area appear to be dwindling. Over the past decade, sockeye salmon returns to the Northern District (which includes Mat-Su streams) have declined significantly, to the point that sport anglers have seen fishing opportunities decline or even disappear.

Many want to blame commercial fishermen for the drop in fish numbers in the Valley, but according to biologists, the inlet’s drift fleet may not be to blame. Instead, biologists say they’re not sure why salmon aren’t returning to the Valley in numbers like they used to.

And they don’t know because precious few state resources have gone to studying the issue. Most streams and lakes in the Valley aren’t equipped with fish wheels or weirs to determine populations. This means certain lakes that should be producing large amounts of salmon fry may not be — but biologists have no idea where this is happening or why.

The best thing that can come out of this BOF meeting will be a recognition of these facts. If BOF members do nothing else, they should mandate that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game take a closer look at what’s happening in the Valley.

Anyone from up here can tell you that something’s happening with our once-robust salmon stocks. The board owes it to Mat-Su residents to pay attention to this issue and to at least take steps to find out exactly what’s happening so more can be done to help our fisheries rebound.

The Anchorage meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. today at Coast International Inn and continues through Saturday.

It’s up to Valley residents to attend the meeting to make sure someone is listening.