Valuable information presented at salmon symposium

The seventh annual Mat-Su Salmon Science and Conservation Symposium was held this past week at the Palmer Train Depot. This annual event was hosted by the Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership. The symposium provides a forum where interested parties can meet and learn about the multi-faceted project work being done in salmon research and salmon habitat science, conservation, and restoration in the Mat-Su. Participants can collaborate and participate in presentations and discussions about these projects and network in sharing data and developing future projects.

The Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership is composed of something like 55 private businesses; federal, state, and local government agencies; private-non-profit groups; industry groups; individuals; and others who share an interest in our valley’s salmon and salmon habitat resources. Quoting from the symposium booklet, the partnership “…believes that thriving fish, healthy habitats, and vital communities can co-exist in the Mat-Su Basin. Because wild salmon are central to life in Alaska, the partnership works to ensure quality salmon habitat is safeguarded and restored. This approach relies on collaboration and cooperation of diverse stakeholders to get results.”

The range of presentation sessions went from mapping Mat-Su waters and salmon habitat and reporting on water temperature trends to reporting on Susitna River studies related to the Susitna-Watana hydroelectric project and discussing the resilience of salmon. Several salmon studies being done by Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were also presented.

One of these Fish and Game presentations was made by Sam Ivey, the Sport Fish Division Northern District Area Management Biologist. Ivey presented the history of how and why we have gotten to the management restrictions we currently have for recreational king salmon fishing. While time was short and he didn’t say so in this presentation, I have heard Ivey say in other forums that we can probably expect similar king salmon management restrictions this coming year as we have seen over the past couple of years. That’s a heads-up for you valley king salmon anglers for the 2015 season.

One session was devoted specifically to presenting information on exotic plant (Elodea) and animal (pike) concerns in the Mat-Su, and the impacts of ATV’s crossing salmon streams. The need for a clean boating outreach program was also presented. The sad part of this session, I thought, was the often uncaring attitude many members of the public presented to the folks who contacted them while they raced around salmon streams on their four-wheelers or ignored the need to be conscious of impacts from refueling boats on the water, for example. Some voluntary and cooperative concern and respect for our habitat resources now might prevent a mandatory, government-imposed restriction on similar activities in the future.

A couple of things were unique to this year’s symposium. First, there was no specific theme to this meeting. Last year, for instance, the theme was the economic value of salmon and natural resources like wetlands and rivers. To be honest, I never noticed the lack of a central theme this year until it was pointed out by one of the organizers in the wrap-up comments at the end of the meeting. I was enjoying listening to and learning from the varied presentations and didn’t worry about a connecting thread throughout the symposium.

The other unique thing was the use of two keynote speakers — one each day — for the symposium. Mary Colligan of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presented a talk on Atlantic salmon ecosystem recovery on the east coast of the country. Kate Myers, retired from the University of Washington, presented a discussion of the life-history, ecology, and potential threats to Mat-Su/Cook Inlet Chinook salmon in the marine environment.

While the two keynote presentations seem unrelated on the surface, they both complemented each other very nicely by illustrating the importance of working together across salmon habitats and life stages in both fresh and marine waters to sustain wild salmon populations into the future.

Another shift I am happy to see in the symposium’s direction over the past few years is more discussion of salmon themselves — for instance, why there are fewer fish now than in years past and how to rebuild the dwindling numbers. The early years of the symposium concentrated on habitat needs. That’s a definite requirement for a healthy salmon population. However, the Mat-Su is in relatively good condition with lots of prime salmon habitat. Now we need to concentrate on how to get fish to utilize that prime habitat. That is the next big challenge.