Sportsfishing needs your voice

By Howard Delo—Howard Delo is a member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough's Fish & Wildlife Commission

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve discussed why your attendance at the upcoming Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF) meeting (Jan.31 – Feb.13, Egan Center, Anchorage) is critical for the future of Northern Cook Inlet salmon runs. I’ve mentioned some of the potential impacts that could result from board decisions on various proposals and how you can participate through written comments if you are unable to attend the actual meeting.

By Howard Delo—Howard Delo is a member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough's Fish & Wildlife Commission

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve discussed why your attendance at the upcoming Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF) meeting (Jan.31 – Feb.13, Egan Center, Anchorage) is critical for the future of Northern Cook Inlet salmon runs. I’ve mentioned some of the potential impacts that could result from board decisions on various proposals and how you can participate through written comments if you are unable to attend the actual meeting.

Let’s talk about some of the actual proposals the board will address and how they might impact our northern district salmon runs. To do that, you’ll need a little background. The timing of returning salmon in Cook Inlet, specifically the sockeye, coho, chums, and pinks overlap each other, especially from mid-July through August. This is the normal time when sports anglers in the Valley are out in force fishing for coho and the other three species. These fish intermingle, or mix stocks, as they swim north through Cook Inlet.

The commercial fishing fleets primarily target sockeye during the second half of July, but will harvest significant numbers of coho, pinks, and chums during this same time and into August. While the setnet fishery catches some northern bound fish, the primary harvester of northern bound salmon is the commercial drift gillnet fleet. Management plans are currently in place telling ADF&G how to manage the drift fleet to move northern fish through the commercial drift fishery in an average year, but these plans have proven to be ineffective in recent years in assuring the necessary numbers of salmon avoid the fleet and return to their natal streams.

As an example, the Susitna-Yentna (S-Y) sockeye run was declared a stock of concern in 2008. ADF&G, by regulation, was mandated to come up with an action management plan which, if followed, would return that stock to a healthy status. Here we are in 2014 and the S-Y sockeye run is still a stock of concern with ADF&G recommending it remain in that status. Over these past six years the number of returning S-Y sockeye have continued a steady decline to where we are worse off now than six years ago. The management plans are not working!

The United Cook Inlet Drift Association (UCIDA) and other groups dominated by drift fishermen have introduced over 50 proposals designed to cripple commercial management regulations, restrict sports fishing opportunities, and reduce dipnetting efforts around Cook Inlet. Proposals 104 and 106 call for the repeal of the entire Upper Cook Inlet Management Plan. Proposals 108, 109, and 110 call for commercial fishing to remain open until closed by emergency order. Currently management plans specify when and for how long commercial fishing periods run. Proposal 120 would expand the amount of time each weekly commercial fishing period can run. Proposal 127 would allow permit stacking by one individual. Proposal 135 would expand fishing times through September and gut the main management plan designed to get northern bound salmon through the drift fleet fishery. Proposal 295 would gut the Northern District Salmon Management Plan’s protection afforded to coho salmon. I could go on but you get the idea about removing commercial fishing restrictions.

Proposal 47 would require only barbless hooks be legal for all freshwater fishing in Cook Inlet. Proposal 49 would add single and unbaited to proposal 47’s requirements. Proposal 50 would prohibit all catch-and-release fishing for coho in all Cook Inlet fresh waters. Proposal 52 would prohibit catch-and-release fishing for all salmon in Cook Inlet fresh waters. Proposal 302 would prohibit all sport fishing for all salmon in Larson Creek from June 1 to Sept. 30. Proposal 310 would limit the number of days from May through August when king and coho salmon can be harvested from the Little Susitna River. Proposal 317 would prohibit sport fishing from a boat during the coho season on the Little Susitna River. Need I go on?

Proposals 274 and 283 would lower the personal use(PU) dipnet fishery bag limit in Upper Cook Inlet from 25 to 15 fish per head of household and from 10 to 5 fish per additional household member. Proposal 275 would cap the number of PU permits at 30,000 per year. Over 35,000 permits were issued in 2013. Proposal 285 would ban PU fishing from boats on the Kenai. Any questions about the drift fleet’s intentions here?

If you fish on the Kenai Peninsula, additional restrictive proposals for the in-river users exist there. Your voice needs to be heard at this BOF meeting!

 Here is a link to the Board of Fish page.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.meetinginfo&date=01-31-2014&meeting=uci

Photo by Marc VanDongen.

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