Watchful eye on new appointees

According to a news release from the governor’s office, Karl Johnstone was re-appointed to the Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF). Mike Smith was not. Teresa Sager Albaugh was reappointed to the Alaska Board of Game (BOG). Cliff Judkins was not. Smith was replaced by Orville Huntington of Huslia and Judkins by Robert Mumford of Anchorage. How these changes will affect fish and wildlife management in the Mat-Su will become evident as the respective boards’ meeting cycles unfold this fall.

I served with Johnstone during my term on the BOF. His first priority was always to protect the viability and health of the fisheries resource under consideration. If Fish and Game presented data indicating the resource was healthy and could sustain some level of harvest, Johnstone would then vote to allocate the harvestable portion as fairly as possible among the users of that resource.

As an example, Johnstone was instrumental in securing changes to the Central District commercial drift gillnet fisheries management plan during the last Upper Cook Inlet meeting a year ago. These changes were intended to move more Northern District sockeye salmon through the commercial fishery to their natal streams to rebuild their stock of concern escapement numbers. At the same time, changes were made to allow the drift fleet to better concentrate their harvest efforts on the healthy and abundant Kenai/Kasilof sockeye stocks. Johnstone is the current chairman of the BOF.

Huntington and Smith are both from the Interior. Both are employed by the Tanana Chiefs Conference and work in natural resources-related fields for their employer. Smith did a good job, in my opinion, representing both the Interior and subsistence rights concerns while on the BOF. I don’t know Huntington, but his resumé in the news release indicates a strong background and interest in resource management.

I’m not as familiar with the BOG situation, other than to say Judkins is the current chairman and has been a multi-term member of the BOG. I know Judkins from my time on the local Fish and Game advisory committee (AC) and with the BOF. Judkins, from Wasilla, was a regular attendee of the AC meetings to listen and answer questions about game situations the board was facing. His replacement, Robert Mumford, is a retired Alaska State Trooper “brownshirt,” which should add a new dimension to that board.

Legislative confirmation hearings for both the BOF and BOG member appointments will happen over the next several days.

I also recently saw a list of nominees for two seats on the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC). This is the federal management commission that regulates all the sport and commercial halibut fisheries in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. I recognize three of the 10 names on the current list. Two of them, Linda Behnken and Roland Maw, are longtime advocates for various commercial fisheries in Alaska. Behnken is the executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and commercially fishes for salmon, halibut and sablefish in Southeastern Alaska. Maw is executive director of the United Cook Inlet Drift Association (UCIDA) and fishes commercially for salmon and halibut.

I met both during my time on the BOF, and they are both very outspoken in supporting the commercial fishing industry. Behnken wanted the sport catch of sablefish in Southeast severely reduced or totally eliminated during a BOF meeting in Sitka a few years ago. Maw is well known to regular attendees of the Upper Cook Inlet BOF meetings as an advocate for the commercial drift gillnet salmon fleet. Either he or UCIDA have submitted proposals over the years to reduce or eliminate the Kenai Peninsula personal use fisheries and restrict sockeye sport harvests from the Kenai/Russian Rivers.

I worked for Kevin Delaney when I was with Fish and Game. He retired as Sport Fish Division director and is currently a consultant to the Kenai River Sportfishing Association. Delaney was involved in helping secure many of the recent changes the BOF made to Cook Inlet commercial fisheries for conservation purposes.

Recent management decisions made by the IPHC have tended to favor the commercial fisheries sector. If you want to send a letter of support for any nominee(s), visit fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/halibut/iphc/nominations.htm for more information.

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.