Assembly resolution supports MAT-SU Salmon st

PALMER—A resolution passed by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly Tuesday calls attention to diminishing salmon stocks in the Susitna, Yentna, and Fish Creek drainages. The resolution asks the Palin Administration and the Board of Fisheries to list sockeye and chum salmon in those streams as "stocks of concern." The resolution further asks the state to create a plan to return healthy salmon stocks to northern Cook Inlet.

Over the past year the members of MAT-SU Mayor Curt Menard's Blue Ribbon Sportsmen's Committee have been working on an approach to resolve the problem of declining MAT-SU salmon stocks.

A snapshot of what's happening with salmon in the northern district:

Chum: commercial harvest has dropped 80 to 90 percent, and the sports harvest has dropped from a high of 17,000 to a low of 2,000 to 3,000 fish in recent years.

Sockeye: Escapement of Fish Creek sockeyes have fallen below the minimum goal in eight of the last ten years, and Susitna River sockeyes have failed to meet minimum escapement goals in five of the last seven years.

Cohos: ADF&G is intending to abandon the coho counting program at the Deshka weir because funding was redirected to higher priority projects

Chinook: projection low for next season on the Deshka, 6,500 fewer king salmon than the record low in 1999.

Sport and personal-use fishermen in the MAT-SU have endured a progression of restrictions over the past several years. The once popular Fish Creek personal use dip net fishery has been closed for many years, and sockeye sport fishing has been restricted for the past four years.

This chronic inability to maintain both minimum escapements and expected harvests has occurred despite continuous restrictions. To the members of the Blue Ribbon Sportsmen's Committee there are ample signs that Susitna, Yentna, and Fish Creek sockeyes and chums meet the criteria for "Stocks of Concern" on a yield basis under the State's Sustainable Salmon Policy.

Under a "Stock of Concern" designation, the state Dept. of Fish and Game must introduce a program of watchful management of those stocks. The resolution calls on the ADF&G to design a phased plan applying today's best available technologies to enumerate all salmon species in those drainages.

"With a comprehensive, but phased approach, the Legislature will know the cost of a complete study, while having the plan in phases allows them the discretion to fund the project to whatever level the Legislature feels is warranted," Kluberton said.

The resolution further requests that after reliable enumeration is done that realistic escapement goals be established for the Susitna, Yentna and Fish Creek drainages. This is anticipated to take several years.

The last request in the resolution is for the Administration and Legislature to support enacting an enforceable version of the Sustainable Salmon Policy into statute.

This four-step approach is the product of the MAT-SU Mayor's Blue Ribbon Sportsmen's Committee. The Committee has met with the Palin Administration and ADF&G to gain as much consensus as possible in how to most effectively go about ensuring healthy Salmon stocks for the MAT-SU.

"The level of cooperation from ADF&G Management was impressive" Kluberton said. "The Committee's challenge was to put together an approach that is reasonable and affords the Administration, the Legislature, and, the Board of Fisheries, the ability to work together to meet the goal of ensuring healthy salmon stocks in the MAT-SU at a level the legislature and governor feel the state can afford."

The Board of Fisheries will hold a meeting for the public on Jan. 30 at the Best Western/Lake Lucille Inn beginning at 2 p.m. to hear comment from MAT-SU residents.

The Board of Fisheries meetings will be held in Anchorage February 1-12 at the West Coast International Inn.

For more information call Assemblyman Tom Kluberton at 841-7107 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.