ON DECK
VIEWS FROM ALASKA
Cod, salmon at top of agenda as Alaska Board of Fisheries gears up By Charlie Ess
hough autumn marks the end of the fishing seasons for herring, salmon, halibut and blackcod, there’s much afoot with changes in fisheries management when the Alaska Board of Fisheries ramps up for meetings beginning in October and running through March of 2023. In the lives of Alaska’s proactive commercial fishermen, it’s either fishing season or meeting season. For starters, the Board of Fisheries met jointly with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council on Oct. 13. The Joint Protocol Committee discussed small boat access in the state and federal Pacific cod fisheries. But the main event was the beleaguered crab stocks in the Bering Sea. The crab fleet was shocked Oct. 10 with sweeping closures. Board of Fisheries action resumed Oct. 27 and continues with meetings that stretch through March 13, as the fish panel reviews 169 proposals that could spell regulation changes in commercial fisheries across major seafood production areas in the state. The board will began with proposals for cod at Chignik, the Bering SeaAleutian Islands (BSAI) and Alaska Peninsula. Beginning on Nov. 29 the board will delve into proposals pertaining to Bristol Bay salmon. Alaska’s far west salmon topics, including the collapse of runs in the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, will be the focus of the meetings running from Jan. 14 through Jan. 18. Salmon and other finfish will again dominate discussions
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at the meetings scheduled for Feb. 20 through Feb. 25. The meetings beginning March 10 through March 13 will consist of supplemental finfish discussions, wrapping up the meeting season until the board takes up fisheries issues in other areas of the state sometime in autumn 2023. Many of the proposals in this cycle emanate from the internal branches of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game with the intent of making the regulatory language consistent with practices in the field. Other proposals strive to correct those practices, when language falls subject to interpretation with other user groups or with enforcement officers. Proposal 76, proposed by longtime fisherman Seth Kantner, pertains to commercial gill net operation in the Kotzebue area and calls for redefinition of “attendance” to anchored salmon nets.
For years, local fishermen set and anchored their nets perpendicular to the shoreline for chum salmon, then returned to their camps and focused on other chores while the nets continued fishing offshore. When fishing was slow, they might be away from the net for hours at a time. This past season, however, an enforcement officer’s interpretation of the current language constituted violations and subsequent fines for leaving the nets unattended during operation. Kantner has been fishing Kotzebue Sound for 47 years, and the regulation had never come into question. He crafted his proposal with the help of the enforcement officer and others “…who are all in agreement that a small change would help clarify and improve this situation and bring regulations in alignment with actual practices here.” In Bristol Bay, the board and the industry will visit 15 proposals focused on salmon net specifications and vessel operations. Some of these proposals call for extending the distance that set gill netters can operate their nets offshore in reaction to changing shoreline conditions, thus restoring their access to fish at historical levels. Other proposals have been borne of technological changes in the fishery, mainly the introduction of shallow-draft jet boats, which have spawned increasing conflicts between drift nets and nets that are anchored and fastened to shore.
Cheryl Ess
Northern Lights
Alaska Llifelong resident Tom Hoblet pauses for stories and a few laughs with Charlie Ess and Joe Weber.
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