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Fishery Board Evaluates Limits, Reductions to Sockeye Salmon CatchesThe State Board of Fish is finishing up two weeks of meeting by looking at proposals to limit or reduce the sockeye catch of Kenai River dip netters.As winter ice begins to recede in the spring, many Alaskans will, once again, turn their attention to the millions of salmon that run up local streams and rivers. How millions of reds will be allocated amongst a wide array of interests was a hot topic in downtown Anchorage today. The Executive Director of the Kenai River Sportfish Association says the Kenai and Kasiloff areas are among the state’s most popular personal-use fisheries. "The personal-use fishery in southcentral Alaska is the bread basket of Alaska, basically, and the Kenai and Kasiloff rivers. Approximately 80,000 people are sharing in the harvest of a common property resource,” said Ricky Gease. The State Board of Fish is finishing up two weeks of meeting by looking at proposals to limit or reduce the sockeye catch of Kenai River dip netters. Yesterday, it added a 24-hour closure period for area commercial fishermen who have asked it to also curtail the effects of the ever-growing dip net fishery. "The fishery has grown from when it was first implemented and this has grown faster than all the other fisheries and I think this is going to swallow some fisheries,” claims Brent Johnson, a Ninilchik set net fisherman. Commercial fishermen claim the ever-growing Kenai dip net fishery is damaging the riverbanks and clogging up the mouth. The fishermen claim too many fish are making it up the river to spawn and suggest the board allow commercial interests to catch more fish, even as they ask that dip netters get less. That doesn't sit well with sport fishermen. "You can’t sit there and argue that there’s too many fish going up the river, but then say that the personal-use dip net fishery or the in-river sport fishery is harvesting too many fish,” claims Gease. As of press time the board had not yet made a decision on many of the proposed dip net regulations, but either way, the fight over fish is likely to continue ebbing and flowing like the ever present tides of Cook Inlet. |
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jeff berger said on Saturday, Mar 5 at 10:41 AM
This is the same as if someone took your paycheck and gave it to someone else for no good reason. How would you like it?
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