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Kenai Setnetters Still Waiting to CastBan on sockeye setnetting meant to protect king salmonKENAI - Along the Kenai river lies a quiet shoreline known as Salamatof beach, which the Frostad family calls home. They’ve created a livelihood off the waters for four generations. “Traditions passed on from when my grandpa was little...hopefully for future generations to come, is what it comes down to,” said Shayla Hudkins, one of the Frostad granddaughters. The Frostad's are among 400 commercial Eastside setnetters who harvest sockeye salmon every year, 51 summers to be exact. But this season has been anything but normal. They’ve spent the last ten days sitting and watching their income swim by, not by choice, but because they can't fish. “Right now I haven’t even paid for my fuel bill hardly,” said Lars Frostad, a second-generation commercial setnetter. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed the sockeye salmon run on the Kenai River to setnetters to help protect king salmon, which have returned in low numbers this season. “These kind of instances are very difficult, very weighty decisions and we don't make them lightly, sometimes we have to do this,” said Jeff Ragnart, director of Commercial Fisheries at Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Frostad believes there are plenty of kings in the Kenai, and the sacrifice should be shared. “We definitely are taking the blunt of the restrictions, the guides fishing on river, catching them and releasing them,” he said. So far this season, they've only been allowed to fish for one twelve-hour day. The City of Kenai's Mayor Pat Porter says with setnetters stuck at shore, the local economy will suffer. “It's going to be a huge impact for our area, it's a huge impact for the commercial processors here as well because they're not able to process as much fish as they anticipated,’ she said. Fish and Game officials say they understand what's at stake. "The underpinning of this whole issue is to make sure that we have adequate escapement for future generations of fish, and for users," said Ragnart. For now, all the Frostad's can do is wait, until further notice. |
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SWWPO said on Tuesday, Jul 31 at 5:54 PM
Working directly with the setnetters here on the Kenai I agree that they must be managed properly by the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game to ensure future returns for all. To me this means sharing the salmon return evenly between all sport and commercial fisherman. I understand the concern of the lack of king salmon return this season, however when the sockeye run does happen the specific setnetters I work with on the Kenai do not catch any kings, only sockeyes. From my perspective, the explanation for not allowing the setnetters to fish does not agree with the actual reasons for this tragic closure.
98134675malleymo said on Monday, Jul 30 at 2:28 PM
Get rid of the set netters, dip netters and guides and the fish would be plentiful, especially for those of us who own property and pay taxes around these rivers........They have take most of our fishing rights away but the guides and commercial fisherman, get what ever they want. I hope they fishing remains dismal for a long time and maybe people will move on to other spots and leave ours alone.
98035716longtimealaskan said on Friday, Jul 27 at 8:43 PM
I have a friend who has a sister who doesn't live here but maintains an alaskan drivers license. She lives and works in Texas. Much to my dismay he took her dipnetting this year because she has an alaskan drivers license. It didn't matter about the fact that perjury is being committed when signing for the permit stating you are an alaskan resident. It is actions like these that affect the rest of us. I'll bet she even applies for and gets a dividend check. Where are the morals? The ethics?
97768681alaska resident said on Friday, Jul 27 at 8:39 PM
Nobody is ever happy
97768526Rick said on Friday, Jul 27 at 7:02 PM
The solution sounds simple enough... restrict dipnetting to five days a week, and give that allocation to the setnetters. Perhaps even the commercial fishing fleet could (heaven forbid) share in the sacrifice. Maybe they could only fish for 1.5 days per week and allow the setnetters to operate for that other 0.5 days. It's not rocket science here.
97763046doyourpart said on Friday, Jul 27 at 3:29 PM
They have been doing this in the Kuskokwim delta for many years, even the locals are only allowed limited fishing for subsistence. The commercial fishing has been taking a toll on the population for some time now. If the people have to stop fishing for personal use, they should look into more restricted and limited commercial fishing too. Now I understand in certain parts of Alaska, commercial guys pay a tax to keep the hatcheries operating, but when they over harvest a different species then that could become a problem and is becoming a problem.
97747486mikey372002 said on Friday, Jul 27 at 1:08 PM
the few the greedy commercial fisherman, as you might not know fish need to move in the water to get oxygen, catching a fish on a hooked line they can still swim around, a gill net does not let them move so they can get oxygen, there for they get stressed out and may dye before ever making it the river, Then again greedy people dont listen.
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