Legislature(2013 - 2014)BUTROVICH 205
03/26/2014 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
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| Start | |
| Upper Cook Inlet Salmon Dialogue | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 26, 2014
3:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Cathy Giessel, Chair
Senator Fred Dyson, Vice Chair
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Click Bishop
Senator Anna Fairclough
Senator Hollis French
Senator Lesil McGuire
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Upper Cook Inlet Salmon Dialogue: Day 2
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
See SRES minutes for 3/24/14.
WITNESS REGISTER
JEFF FOX, former ADFG biologist
Commented for Roland Maw
United Cook Inlet Drift Association (UCIDA)
POSITION STATEMENT: Read presentation by Roland Maw, United Cook
Inlet Drift Association (UCIDA), who could not get back in time
to testify.
ERIK HUEBSCH, Vice President
United Cook Inlet Drift Association (UCIDA)
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced himself.
GARY FANDREI, Executive Director
Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association (CIAA)
Kenai, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed CIAA programs.
RICKY GEASE, Executive Director
Kenai River Sport Fishing Association (KRSFA)
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Showed a five-minute video called, "Save Our
Kenai Kings," about king salmon conservation and its impacts on
sport fishing on the Kenai River.
ARNI THOMSON, Executive Director
Alaska Salmon Alliance (ASA)
Kenai, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an economic analysis of Kenai
Peninsula salmon and other fisheries.
JULIANNE CURRY, Executive Director
United Fishermen of Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed seafood industry facts and issues.
ROBERT RUFFNER, Executive Director
Kenai Watershed Forum (KWF)
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed key fishery habitat concerns and
possible solutions.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:30:59 PM
CHAIR CATHY GIESSEL called the Senate Resources Standing
Committee meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators French, Dyson, and Chair Giessel. Senator
Bishop arrived at 3:31 p.m.
^Upper Cook Inlet Salmon Dialogue
Upper Cook Inlet Salmon Dialogue
3:31:35 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced that the committee would hear first from
the United Cook Inlet Drift Association (UCIDA).
3:31:59 PM
JEFF FOX, former ADFG biologist, said he was most recently the
Cook Inlet Area Management Biologist, but had retired in 2011.
He said he was not a member of UCIDA or a commercial fisherman,
but was asked to read their presentation because Roland Maw
could not get back in time to do it.
3:34:32 PM
MR. FOX read the following:
In 2013, Northern economic conservatively valued the
Cook Inlet commercial fishing industry's annual
contribution to the regional economy at $350 million
and 5,000 direct jobs. Cook Inlet provides 5 percent
of the world's sockeye supply and when managed
properly it could be the fourth largest salmon fishery
in the state. This valuable industry has been here
since 1882 and can continue indefinitely; it requires
science-based management of salmon for sustained yield
and a reliable predictable regulatory environment.
The Board of Fisheries and ADF&G are required by
statute and Alaska's Constitution to manage fisheries
for sustained yield and maximum benefit. These two
requirements are not currently being met by the state.
At the recent UCI meeting the Board of Fisheries made
decisions that compromise ADF&G's ability to manage
fisheries and stay within escapement goals. New
scientific data was available to inform the board's
decision-making process. Decisions were made contrary
to that scientific information. The efforts by the
board to address the proposals for the fishery were
politically motivated without scientific or a factual
basis. The board process was influenced by groups
pushing allocative agendas under the guise of
conservation.
The current Board of Fisheries process is broken.
Board members were buried under an avalanche of paper
dumped on them within days prior to the meeting and
during the two-week meeting. Much of the information
was technical and without a thorough understanding of
the inter-relationships between the different
fisheries, gear types, run timing, historical patterns
and emerging scientific data, the Board is simply
unable to understand the consequences of their
decisions. As a result, we end up with management
plans that cannot achieve the intended result.
At the recent UCI meeting, the Board of Fisheries also
made decisions that compromised ADF&G's ability to
manage the fisheries and stay within escapement goals.
Nowhere else in Alaska will you find a borough-
sponsored sport-fishing advocacy group writing
commercial fishery management plans. This begs the
question of why the plans don't work. The Mat-Su's
document is full of exaggerations, half-truths,
omissions and insinuations. The conservation issues
that exist for Northern Cook Inlet salmon stocks were
not caused by saltwater fisheries and cannot be fixed
by restricting saltwater fisheries.
3:35:46 PM
If declines in northern salmon stocks were due to so-
called interception then effects would be seen across
the stocks. But some stocks are doing fine and some
stocks are not, because the problems are in the
rivers, streams and lakes. For example, Chelatna Lake
has made its sockeye escapement goal in four of the
past five years and exceeded the goal in two of those
years. Larson Lake met its sockeye escapement goals in
four of the five past years. In 2006 Shell Lake had
nearly 70,000 sockeye spawners; in 2013 it had less
than 25 spawners due to invasive pike, predation and
disease.
SENATOR MICCICHE joined the committee.
The Mat-Su document says on page three that "King
salmon numbers have dropped to record lows." Not True.
This past summer almost 90,000 kings were counted in
the main stem of the Susitna River, upstream of some
major king tributaries like the Yentna and Skwentna
Rivers. Some stocks are doing fine, some stocks are
not.
Alexander Creek, a tributary of the Susitna, has lost
almost all of its king run, and 26,000 angler days per
year, to invasive northern pike. Several of the other
streams with designated king stocks-of-concern are
road-accessible and intensely exploited by sport
fishing.
Six of the seven stocks-of-concern in the northern
district are king runs that have almost no harvest by
commercial fisheries; five are also single aerial
surveys. ADF&G Commissioner Campbell corroborated this
after a Mat-Su representative's presentation to
another legislative committee last month (Feb. 18)
when she said, "I don't believe the department is
assuming commercial harvest pressure as the causal
factor in Chinook declines for any of the runs we have
statewide."
3:37:49 PM
Nearly a quarter million coho went up the Susitna
River last summer. Mat-Su's publication doesn't
mention those numbers, only the problem they have with
the returns to the Little Susitna River and Jim Creek.
They don't mention the pollution, habitat damage, and
poaching problems they have in those systems. They
also don't mention that the Little Susitna used to be
enhanced with hatchery coho for many years. When the
enhancement program was suspended in 1996, escapement
goals were not changed and ADF&G's intent was to see
if the natural stocks could handle the sport fishing
pressure. ADF&G either needs to adjust escapement
goals based on current production or reinstitute a
hatchery stocking program, or actually manage the
sport fishery in those creeks.
3:38:20 PM
A Mat-Su representative told a legislative Committee
last month that ADF&G allows overfishing on northern-
bound stocks of salmon. This is not a true statement.
It's not true of sockeye stocks. ADF&G estimates that
35 percent to 38 percent of northern bound sockeye
stocks are commercially harvested. The commercial
harvest rate on the Kenai and Kasilof stocks range
from 55 percent to 70 percent. Normal harvest rates to
achieve maximum sustained yield range between 40
percent and 70 percent.
Neither king stocks nor coho stocks are overfished.
About 1 percent of northern king stocks are
commercially harvested and only 10 percent of UCI coho
stocks are commercially caught. These are the facts,
with no spin.
3:39:32 PM
Only 6 percent of UCI chum stocks are commercially
harvested and only 2 percent of UCI pink stocks are
commercially harvested. The Cook Inlet commercial
fishery is under-fishing, not overfishing, salmon
stocks. This does not meet the mandate for sustained
yield.
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH joined the committee.
3:40:29 PM
Commercial harvest rates are low for northern stocks
in part due to geography. The Northern District is a
virtual "Conservation Zone" covering over 800 square
miles. No other salmon fishery in the state has such a
large conservation zone. Only 53 commercial setnet
permits are fished in the entire Northern District.
All of the commercial drift fishing and over 90
percent of the setnetting in Cook Inlet occurs within
the Central District. The northern boundary of the
Central District is over 40 miles south of the Mat-Su
drainages.
Salmon stocks in UCI are not adapted to northern pike
predation. ADF&G has found invasive pike in 135 lakes,
streams, and rivers in the Mat-Su. The department has
a pike control program in only one of these systems.
Because management standards are no longer followed
and because of the misinformation presented to the
Board, there has been a gradual erosion of best
management practices.
Salmon are an anadromous species and as such fall
under federal regulation. After the passage of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act in 1976, the State of Alaska
agreed, in a Memorandum of Understanding with the
National Marine Fisheries Service, that it would
manage fisheries in Cook Inlet in a manner consistent
with the MSA.
In the mid-to-late 1990s the Board of Fisheries (BOF)
began deviating from MSA. In 2000, the Board wrote a
new plan: Policy for the Management of Sustainable
Salmon Fisheries (SSFP). The Board and ADF&G routinely
ignore the standards written into the SSFP.
3:41:13 PM
After statehood the Alaskan salmon returns puttered
along until 1976 when the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA)
became federal law. The MSA had immediate and dramatic
results on salmon resources across the state. Within a
few years the overall commercial harvest of salmon on
a statewide basis increased over 200 percent.
In 2000, the State adopted the Sustainable Salmon
Fisheries Policy (SSFP). In the graphs, beginning in
2000, the blue line continues across at the MSA
average, while the red line shows the actual average
harvest from 2000 through 2013.
In the upper graph one can see a modest benefit gained
in the statewide salmon harvest numbers (although
those gains are due to hatchery production of pinks
and chums). In Cook Inlet, under the SSFP, the average
harvests of all species of salmon have declined.
On the Cook Inlet chart, the difference between the
average harvests under Magnuson and the SSFP, the red
and blue lines, on the right end of the chart is a
rough measure of unharvested surplus salmon.
3:42:31 PM
The low Cook Inlet harvest rates of king salmon
reflect how they have largely been allocated away from
the commercial fisheries in Cook Inlet after the
stocks started to recover in the mid-1980s.
Sockeye salmon harvests across the state benefitted
from the MSA but Cook Inlet sockeye harvests have not
maintained that level under the SSFP.
In the mid-to-late 1990s when the Board of Fisheries
and ADF&G stopped complying with their agreement with
the National Marine Fisheries Service to manage
fisheries in Cook Inlet in a manner consistent with
the MSA, the Cook Inlet harvest decreased by an
average of about 700,000 sockeye per year. This lost
harvest had an ex-vessel value of between $4 and $10
million dollars per year.
Commercial harvests of coho salmon in Cook Inlet have
been greatly reduced, even though 90 percent of Cook
Inlet coho get back to the rivers. Sport fishing
harvests only about another 10 percent, leaving a
large, harvestable surplus which you can see reflected
in the decreased harvest in the Cook Inlet chart.
Commercial harvests of pink salmon in Cook Inlet have
been tremendously reduced. The most recent ADF&G study
indicated that the commercial fisheries harvest only 2
percent of available stocks, leaving an immense
harvestable surplus. On even years, this surplus is in
the tens of millions of pounds.
3:43:39 PM
The commercial harvests of chum salmon in Cook Inlet
have also been tremendously reduced. Commercial
fisheries harvest only 6 percent of available stocks,
leaving an immense harvestable surplus. Hundreds of
thousands of fish and millions of pounds of product go
unharvested. This deprives the region and the state of
Alaska of the economic benefit of this surplus natural
resource.
This [graph on slide 23] is a clear example of how the
Board makes management decisions based on perception
rather than factual information. This lost harvest is
going to hundreds of non-road accessible off-road
systems that don't receive much fishing pressure.
3:44:51 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE joined the committee.
What we see is mismanagement of Cook Inlet salmon by
the BOF and ADF&G that has led to unnecessary
reductions in harvest resulting in significant
economic losses and damage to the production capacity
of the salmon resource in Cook Inlet.
3:46:34 PM
If harvesting salmon is so difficult in the Mat-Su
Borough, why are well over half of the fish released?
Sixty-six percent of the Chinook, 44 percent of the
coho, 52 percent of the sockeye, and nearly 94 percent
of the pink and chum stocks catches in these areas are
released. Only one-third of the fish are actually
retained.
3:47:13 PM
SENATOR DYSON remarked that Mr. Fox had suggested that
administrative changes to the board process were needed,
specifically.
MR. FOX said there are a lot of options, but he suggested
instituting sideboards on just how the board has to achieve
allocations. Right now, he is hearing that the board is
restricting a lot of fisheries and putting fish into streams
that no one is harvesting on.
SENATOR DYSON said he understood that, but they need specifics
while being very wary of specific things that might be changing
as time goes forward. Bristol Bay is a river-of-origin fishery
where it's quite easy to fish on a discrete stock, but much of
Cook Inlet is a mixed stock fishery that is difficult to fish a
discrete group of fish that are going by. Can that be managed?
MR. FOX answered that everyone assumes there is a problem in
Cook Inlet, because people are still fighting about fish. That
is not necessarily a problem. Bristol Bay is a much different
fishery; they fish every type.
SENATOR DYSON asked what to do about pike beyond what is already
being done and what about dealing with beaver damage to rearing
grounds.
MR. FOX replied that beaver's biggest problem is that they have
made impassable waterways, especially in the Valley, because the
water gets real high. At 50 F., salmon die because there isn't
enough oxygen in the water. About the only thing that can be
done with the beaver dams is to pull them out before winter.
SENATOR DYSON asked about the pike.
MR. FOX answered if you don't do something with the pike they
are going to continue to spread. They have looked into a seismic
water gun and netting, but the only other way they know of is
something that is expensive and hard to use in flowing waters,
and they have accidentally wiped out many species. Something is
out there that will take care of pike, but it still has yet to
be found.
3:51:38 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE said it's not an unrealistic expectation for
Alaskans to want to catch fish close to home, but there are
folks in the Valley who feel that they don't have the returns
they used to have on many streams. They know that is true on
many streams; it may be a perception on others and be an access
issue on some. What top three things first steps would he take
to fix that problem?
MR. FOX replied that it is a tough problem, but it could be
fixed, and just because people fight over fish doesn't mean
there aren't enough fish. As one moves into road-accessible
systems, lower bag limits will be needed or some other way of
reducing fish harvest in the river. It doesn't matter how many
fish you put in a river, there is still enough pressure in the
river that they will be harvested. At some point, you have to
have a distinct management regime for each system. The Little
Susitna would probably have a 1 or 2 fish bag limit and the
Nushigak could have a 3 or 5 fish limit. It also has be actively
managed. If you increase harvest ability, you have to be able to
close it down rapidly.
ERIK HUEBSCH, Vice President, United Cook Inlet Drift
Association (UCIDA), introduced himself.
3:54:42 PM
GARY FANDREI, Executive Director, Cook Inlet Aquaculture
Association (CIAA), Kenai, Alaska, said he had held his position
since 1996 and he is very proud of their programs. Their mission
is to protect self-perpetuating salmon stocks and the habitats
in which they depend, rehabilitate self-perpetuating salmon
stocks, rehabilitate salmon habitat, and to maximize the value
of the Cook Inlet common property fishery resource by applying
science and enhancement technology where appropriate.
He said they are funded primarily by the 2 percent salmon
enhancement tax that is taxed on commercial fishermen and
allocated back to the Aquaculture Association. That funding
source varies dramatically because it's tied to what the harvest
value is. It has been as low as $176,000 in some years and as
high as $2.6 million in others. As a result of that, they have
looked at funding from other sources and one of those is cost
recovery licensing where they run hatchery programs and have the
ability to harvest some of those fish to help supply the
programs they are operating. Money is also coming in through
grant contracts for fish production for some of the local
communities in the Kenai Peninsula area and they are also active
in pursuing grants to run a varied number of programs and
projects.
3:57:23 PM
They cover the Cook Inlet drainage including the outer coast of
the Kenai Peninsula and all the waters that drain into the Cook
Inlet. This is approximately equal to the Kenai Peninsula
Borough, the Mat-Su Borough, and the City of Anchorage. The
headquarters is in Kenai. They have hatcheries in Anchorage
(currently not operating), at Moose Pass (a state facility they
operate under contract), and also one in lower Cook Inlet across
from Homer, which is also state facility. They are in the
process now of negotiating for another hatchery at Port Graham.
This facility has not been operating for a few years, but they
look forward to getting it going again.
MR. FANDREI explained that CIAA's "secondary programs" include
weir structures in Bear Lake in Seward and sites on Kalgan
Island and the Paint River Fish Ladder in lower Cook Inlet on
the west side.
3:59:15 PM
Their stocking programs are varied with most of them being
located in lower Cook Inlet; one is in the Susitna Basin. They
operate flow control structures to assist fish back into their
spawning grounds and a number of monitoring programs. They are
also doing some habitat projects as opportunities exist,
generally trying to team up with other organizations.
The work in Susitna is also quite varied; they have been doing a
lot of monitoring and beaver dam work. They have also done some
limnology sampling in those areas.
He wanted to mention beaver dams, because they have been brought
up a number of times. They regularly fly a number of systems,
particularly in the Susitna Valley, and look for beaver dams
that block fish as they are migrating up to their spawning
grounds. The dams don't need to be particularly big to be a
problem to fish. So, if they find a dam that is holding fish
back, they will land with a helicopter and have a crew cut a
notch in the dam to allow fish to move up. These notches usually
only last for 24-48 hours; the beavers build them back up. But
they also recognize that this is not an issue on every creek
every year. It all depends on a number of factors and early
efforts in discussions about stream temperatures etc.
He showed a picture of fish that had died in Shell Creek in 2003
at a time when they had a lot of sunshine with very little rain.
He explained that typically, the rain falls at the right time of
year and the water will flood around a beaver dam and the fish
will find a way out. It doesn't happen all the time and it
becomes a critical issue about once every three years on some
streams in the Valley.
4:01:36 PM
More recent studies in the Susitna area have been looking at
some of the escapement goals and comparing them with some
historic data. Some years ago they proposed to do some weir
counts at specific lakes in the area and compare them to what
the sonar counter was indicating. They found that the sonar
counter was actually undercounting the fish that were going up
into the Valley. There was actually more fish going up than they
thought.
MR. FANDREI said a couple of lakes near Chelatna, Judd, and
Larson Lakes, Red Shirt and Trapper Lakes, that historically had
sockeye salmon runs no longer have fish returning to them. Some
of the lakes were northern pike lakes and some not, but the ones
with northern pike tended to have reduced production.
Zooplankton species was monitored in the lakes, because that is
the food source, particularly for sockeye salmon, and for the
most part adequate zooplankton was found to produce fish.
4:03:06 PM
The second part of his presentation concerned northern pike
issues. Mr. Fandrei said CIAA wants to try to identify what the
pike are doing in a couple of systems to try to determine if
there was a way to economically control them so that other fish
could co-exist. One of the areas was Chelatna Lake, because that
system appears to have something of a stable population of
salmon, but it also has northern pike. It appears to have good
salmon habitat and marginal pike habitat; therefore they co-
exist.
4:04:00 PM
In Whiskey and Hewitt Lakes they seemed to not be co-existing
very well. There they found more marginal salmon habitat and a
little bit better pike habitat. One of the things they did was
radio-tag fish and tried to track them throughout the year to
find out if they were vulnerable to any kind of management or
control at any time in their life cycle. In fact, they actually
had a crew out earlier tracking some fish there.
They were considering installing an electrical barrier that
could be used to help control the movement of some of these
fish, called a "Neptun." Trials were run using that information
to see if they could come up with any kind of a mechanism by
which pike populations could be controlled. It can be adjusted
to allow immature fish to leave a lake system, but it would also
direct pike into a side channel where they could be harvested.
That is still being played with.
4:04:56 PM
The last project he wanted to mention was the Shell Lake project
where monitoring has indicated some alarming declines in sockeye
populations. In 2006, almost 70,000 fish escaped into that
system and that dropped to 26,000 in 2007 and 2,600 in 2008.
Smolt migration studies were being done at the same time and
they realized that the adult migration escapement into the lake
was not corresponding with the smolt that were being produced by
the system, indicating that something was going on in the lake
that was causing a loss of fish within the lake system. They
wanted to do some additional investigations on that, but what
got them concerned was in 2011 when only 17 smolt left that
particular system, indicating that probably no fish would return
from that year.
So, they decided to go in there in the next return of fish and
collect eggs and take them to the Trail Lakes Hatchery, incubate
and rear them to smolt size, and release them into the lake.
Those fish (70,000) will be released into Shell Lake this
spring.
They were going to do that again in the following year, but
unfortunately not enough adult fish returned to be able to even
secure any eggs. The interesting thing that happened is that
locals pointed out that a lot of the fish returning to the lake
were actually dying before they had a chance to spawn. They were
picking up dead fish along the lake shore that had a full
complement of eggs in their system. That was alarming!
Some of those fish were collected and taken to ADF&G pathology
for analysis and a high prevalence of two parasites were found
in the fish: one was Loma, which affects the gills, and the
other one was Proliferative Kidney Disease (PKD), which affects
the kidneys. Both parasites can result in the death of the fish.
They become a problem when fish become stressed, and stress
could be due just from the spawning activity. They believe that
is what was going on there.
So, what was thought to be a northern pike problem turned out to
be a little more complicated, and that's a real issue to look at
in any of these programs in coming up with any type of
rehabilitation project or management decision that goes into
place to correct any of these issues.
CIAA wants to continue with the northern pike project and the
Shell Lake project and are very interested in doing a
rehabilitation project at Red Shirt and Trapper Lakes.
4:08:34 PM
SENATOR DYSON asked how successful getting hatchery fish to
restock a drainage system is.
MR. FANDREI replied that they had been running hatchery programs
for a number of years and have the procedures down pretty well
in terms of being able to collect eggs, bring them into a
facility, rear and release them. But the issue they have,
particularly with programs like Shell Lake, is that they want to
put the same genetic stock back into the lake.
SENATOR DYSON asked if they did that, would they survive and
repopulate the drainage.
MR. FANDREI answered that Chelatna Lake that now has a stable
population as an example. Back in the early 1990s very few fish
returned. They returned the fish as fry and they did come back
to spawn and reproduce.
4:10:05 PM
SENATOR BISHOP asked if they thought of relocating the beaver.
MR. FANDREI answered that they had entertained the thought of
going out there and using dynamite on the dams, but the problem
is that beaver dams also produce habitat, so benefits and risks
have to be weighed when doing that. Transplanting beavers would
a short-term solution, because other beavers would soon move
back in if it's a good habitat.
SENATOR BISHOP asked if any of the pike are trophy size.
MR. FANDREI answered that some very large pike come out of these
systems. One of the interesting things about introducing a
species to a system is that you get a very rapid population
increase and a top-heavy age structure. You get a lot of large
pike initially, but after they stabilize the smaller pike
prevail with very few larger ones.
SENATOR BISHOP remarked that he was just trying to help him get
rid of the pike and he wanted more people to know where the big
fish are.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked if their research on diseases gets passed on
to ADF&G or not.
MR. FANDREI answered that any work they do gets an annual
progress report that gets distributed to ADF&G. They don't have
the expertise to do the analysis on the pathology part of it, so
they have to coordinate that with the department.
4:12:45 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE said she grew up with a cabin on Shell Lake and
it's sad to see the fish numbers down. She asked if Sucker Lake
has any salmon.
MR. FANDREI recalled doing some work there, but he didn't know
exactly what it was. Sucker Lake probably has no more salmon
returning to it, though.
SENATOR DYSON said trappers have told him there isn't enough
money in beaver, so a bounty system is needed, and he hoped that
community service groups and trappers could work that problem.
4:14:47 PM
RICKY GEASE, Executive Director, Kenai River Sport Fishing
Association (KRSFA), Soldotna, Alaska, said they are a non-
profit fishery conservation organization and showed a five-
minute video called, "Save Our Kenai Kings," that is about king
salmon conservation and its impacts on sport fishing on the
Kenai River.
4:21:39 PM
MR. GEASE said the goal of fisheries management in Alaska is
sustainability. Both the federal and state fisheries have
systems put in place that are probably the most public processes
for any type of fisheries management in the world on both levels
with the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council and National
Marine Fisheries Service dealing with annual catch limits. The
state fisheries is managed through the Board of Fisheries and
ADF&G and deal with escapement goals, specifically with salmon,
and they are based on having long-term sustainability and
accountability measures, and when there are times of need, you
have a sharing of burden of conservation to prevent over-
fishing.
Alaska commercial fisheries account for half the seafood
produced in the United States with a wholesale value of $3.5
billion to $5 billion; the sport fisheries account for about
$1.4 billion. That type of management which is based on
sustainability allows certification and marketing of Alaska
commercial fisheries as sustainable, an important marketing
tool.
MR. GEASE said there are some fundamental differences between
recreational fishing and commercial fish management. One of the
basic things in sport fisheries is that effort is measured by
angler days: if you're out for an hour or eight hours, that's
called an angler day. Those are controlled by daily bag limits.
In contrast commercial fisheries are measured by metric tons.
The second basic difference is that sport fisheries are looking
towards maximum sustainable production: anglers look for
abundance of fish in the fisheries; more fish typically means
more angler days. In contrast, commercial fisheries are looking
for maximum sustained yield and the harvestable surplus over the
escapement range. Sport fisheries are looking for predictable
in-season management with consistent daily bag limits across the
season. In contrast, commercial fisheries look for flexible in-
season management: for example Cook Inlet salmon fleets have
regular openers as well as emergency openings that allow them to
harvest based on in-season numbers coming into the river.
4:24:48 PM
The economics of recreational fisheries are based on large
values per fish being generated through multiple sectors of the
economy: the retail sector has tackle shops, rods and reels,
boats, motors, etc. The tourism sector has lodges, restaurants,
transportation, etc. The real estate sector: there are a couple
thousand homes on the Kenai River and half of them are probably
second homes based primarily on the concept of fishing. In
contrast, the economics in a commercial fishery are based on
smaller margins and larger numbers of fish.
4:26:00 PM
He said the state's largest sport and personal use fisheries are
in Cook Inlet. Fisheries are big business there generating $1
billion: $800 million is generated in the sport and personal use
fisheries and a $200 million is generated in the commercial
fisheries (salmon, halibut, and other Cook Inlet fish). One-half
of all angler days in Alaska are generated in UCI. Two-hundred
thousand resident and non-resident anglers fish in UCI each
year.
The Kenai river is home to the largest sport and personal use
fisheries in Alaska; those include the largest sockeye
fisheries, largest coho fisheries, largest king fisheries, and
largest personal use fisheries. Alaska is in the top five states
in the nation for non-resident angler expenditures. So, this is
a place where people come to go fishing.
The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge survey was released last
year. It is the top wildlife refuge in America in per person
expenditures, a lot of it generated from sport fishing. In the
tourism industry, the average person comes for about 8-9 days
and spends about $800. A non-resident angler can spend up to
$780 per day. About 40 percent of revenues generated in Alaska
from tourism are based on the activity of sport fishing.
4:27:51 PM
Cook Inlet fisheries management is complex; it's a fully
allocated fishery. It has all five species of salmon: kings,
reds, silvers, pinks, and chums in major watersheds. About half
the stocks of concern in the state are in UCI. It has the
longest BOF meetings; typically they last from 3-5 days, but in
Cook Inlet they last 14 days just to deal with the complexity of
these different fisheries.
4:28:47 PM
In 2014, the issue of Alaska king salmon was thrown on top of
that complexity. Ocean productivity is a key issue in low
numbers of king salmon in Alaska. King salmon spend up to 85
percent of their life cycle in the marine environment; the
National Marine Fishery Service and NOAA consider them a marine
species. This is a statewide issue. In general, Alaska has
healthy fresh water habitats and there seems to be a 40-50
ocean-cycle regime that leads to "boom and busts" in king salmon
production. In the 80s and 90s, the top 10 king salmon records
were harvested on the Kenai River; that's when Washington,
Oregon, and California were having all their ESA listings.
Currently, right now we are in a very down cycle and they are
having record returns of king salmon. This has alternated back
and forth through time.
Back in the 1940s on the Kenai Peninsula the fish traps
harvested 80-120,000 kings; then there was a bust in the mid-
1960s, the last time the Kenai River was closed to king salmon
fishing for multiple years.
In 2012, he said the governor and the legislature authorized $30
million to be spent over five years to examine causes of king
salmon decline and the federal government issued a statewide
economic disaster declaration covering Yukon/Kuskokwim and Cook
Inlet that resulted in about $20 million of federal disaster aid
coming to the state this year.
He said the Bering Sea has king salmon accountability measures
as by-catch measures from their fishing cooperatives in the
trawl fisheries. On the state level, the BOF, the ADF&G, the
legislature, the governor, and the court system all recognize
that there are king salmon conservation issues.
MR. GEASE said Upper Cook Inlet is having historic low king
salmon returns. The king salmon management plans were developed
in the 1980s when 80-100,000 kings came back in the combined
early and late runs to the Kenai River and all king runs in Cook
Inlet are being impacted.
On the Kenai River, itself, major indicators show steep declines
in Kenai River king salmon over the last decade. Late run kings
harvested by sport fishermen have declined by about 80 percent
and those harvested by commercial setnetters declined
dramatically. Late run kings caught in the in-river test nets
show the same steep decline.
4:32:33 PM
What's at stake? The Kenai River was voted as the number one
sport fishing river in North America a decade ago by Field &
Stream and that fishery is being lost, but hopefully
conservation measures will prevail and it will rebound.
They are trying to maintain the opportunity for sustainable
recreational fisheries for future generations. The economy on
the Kenai Peninsula is taking a hit, because the number of
visitors to the king salmon fishery is declining, too.
4:33:34 PM
So, their campaign goal is to update the fishery management plan
to reflect the low numbers of king salmon and they have a couple
of different proposals into the BOF based upon the concept that
adequate numbers of Kenai kings must be allowed to spawn, making
sure minimum escapement goals are met, and ensuring there is a
shared burden of conservation of harvesters.
Over the last decade, east side setnetters have harvested about
30 percent more kings than the combined in-river anglers and the
dipnetters. So, they are a major harvester of king salmon. The
setnetters harvested over 100,000 kings, the in-river sport
anglers during that decade harvested 100,000 kings, and personal
use dipnetters harvested about 10,000.
4:34:23 PM
He said KRSFA produced this video as an educational piece to get
people to understand the issue and the impacts of conservation.
They created a letter-writing campaign to allow people's voices
to be heard in the BOF process; they have generated about 300
letters from their membership and other concerned Southcentral
Alaska people. They did tourism industry outreach and got their
feedback that the Peninsula fishing industry is hurting.
4:36:43 PM
MR. GEASE said the Board of Fisheries meeting happened in the
first two weeks of February and there were 250 proposals with 12
different committees operating during that time. The results of
that were being broadcast on social media to keep folks up-to-
date along with over 50 UCI stories of the UCI in the media in
Southcentral Alaska.
The BOF decided not to lower the escapement goal for early run
kings, because it is not a long-term goal. They proposed keeping
the escapement goal higher than the new goals that had come out.
A buffer zone of 1,650 fish is included in the late run plan and
protections in August. The data shows the larger females are
coming in the last week of July and into the first couple weeks
of August and there are protections for that. Additionally,
there were some in-river fish spawning habitat closures for the
early run and a barbless hook requirement for catch and release.
They also instituted pared restrictions for commercial, sport,
personal use fisheries that were adopted into the King Salmon
Management Plan. When the in-river sport fishery goes to no-
bait, there are restrictions that take place in the commercial
fishery and the personal use fishery to slow down the harvest of
kings. The board also authorized the use of shallower nets in
the setnet fishery and put additional flexibility in the
commercial fisheries management toolbox; instead of having
regular fish periods and windows, now the commercial fish
manager can use hours and spread them out through the week.
4:37:47 PM
Ongoing management through the Board of Fisheries: they did a
good job of putting additional tools into the toolbox for the
department to use. The early run of Kenai River kings is closed
for the first time since 1964. All major king salmon sport
fisheries in Cook Inlet are going to have restrictions and/or
closures; everyone has to wait to see how the late run kings are
managed in July.
4:38:50 PM
SENATOR DYSON said he was impressed with Mr. Gease's balanced
report and asked if ADF&G had figured out escapement closures
with so many users.
MR. GEASE answered yes, by closing the early run early enough
(in February) so people had a chance to change their plans.
4:40:10 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE remarked that Mr. Gease was not blaming any
particular group for where we are right now; he just wants to
ensure that every king salmon gets back to its river to minimize
the very challenging down times.
MR. GEASE said that was right. He thought this was a cyclical
problem and it's important to realize that all species have down
cycles and management plans need to recognize both times of high
abundance and times of low abundance.
4:41:30 PM
ARNI THOMSON, Executive Director, Alaska Salmon Alliance (ASA),
Kenai, Alaska, said he contracted with Northern Economics out of
Anchorage for an economic analysis of Kenai Peninsula salmon and
other fisheries. The important economic statistics were touched
on by United Cook Inlet Drifters. He stated that:
The Alaska Salmon Alliance was formed in 2011 and
became active in 2013. It's an Alaska 502(c)(6)
corporation, a trade association representing Kenai
Peninsula and Anchorage-based seafood processors and
numerous Cook Inlet commercial drift and setnet
fishermen. Our organization believes that wild Alaska
salmon are part of the cultural fabric of our state.
They are woven into our past, our present and our
future. As an organization, ASA is focused on public
education, promoting the value of scientifically based
salmon management to preserve habitats and create
predictable harvests for all salmon users in the Cook
Inlet Region. The ASA promotes long term
sustainability and is a source for accurate
information about the salmon industry. We advocate for
thoughtful, process-oriented allocation of Cook Inlet
salmon for the benefit of all Alaska. ASA also
supports the concept of a healthy, diverse economic
for the Kenai Peninsula with a balance of commercial,
sport, personal use and subsistence fisheries.
During the past year the ASA has invested tens of
thousands of dollars on community outreach in the
Anchorage bowl and Mat-Su Valley delivering our
message about the need for cooperation between all
user groups to come together to resolve conflict and
seek long term allocative and sustainable fisheries
management programs for the Cook Inlet salmon
fisheries. ASA efforts are well known and well
documented vis-a-vis community meetings and chambers
of commerce attendance and sponsorship of programs
encouraging collaboration and negotiation. We have
documented some of those efforts with attachments.
It is noteworthy that the ASA spearheaded a
precedential collaborative research funding initiative
in the Alaska Legislature with the Mat-Su Fish and
Wildlife Commission, the Kenai River Sportfishing
Association and the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association
in a March 26, 2013 letter to the Alaska Legislature.
This effort resulted in an allocation of over $7
million for vital migration, genetics and habitat
studies for the Cook Inlet region. Repeated requests
throughout November and December of 2013 for
continuing the collaboration in 2015 have not yet
materialized. However, we heard yesterday the Mat-Su
Borough and Commission have apparently submitted a new
$2.5 million salmon research appropriation request to
the Legislature.
Economic Significance of Kenai Peninsula Commercial
fisheries: ASA has attached a detailed summary of its
processor members and the economic significance of
Peninsula fisheries that we presented to the Board of
Fisheries in February (RC 114, attachment).
Economic value in participation in sport, personal use
and commercial fisheries fluctuate widely from year to
year as circumstances change. Southcentral Alaska
needs the social and economic contributions of all
users of Cook Inlet salmon and we all must work
together for the long term sustainability of our
salmon resources.
In comparing economic reports it is important to refer
to Gunnar Knapp's "Comparison of Recent Sport and
Commercial Fisheries Economic Studies", (2009)
prepared for the Cook Inlet Economic Task Force. Mr.
Knapp used two major reports for his comparisons.
Knapp advises caution in the comparison of economic
reports between commercial and sportfish sectors of
the industry. Differing methodologies are used by the
sectors with non-comparable economic value
conclusions. In regards to Cook Inlet, Knapp had
several interesting conclusions, which are listed in
his testimony. A few of them are:
-Even if catches and allocations stay the same,
economic impacts can change significantly from year to
year.
-Economic impacts aren't necessarily proportional to
fish catches.
-The studies provide very little if any useful policy
guidance on sport-commercial allocation issues.
-The commercial industry is not viable without a
certain threshold level of fishing opportunities and
regular openings.
-Economic arguments for changes in allocation should
be based on analysis and clear thinking about the
specific expected economic effects of the specific
proposed policy change.
4:47:50 PM
A major concern of the ASA is the anti-set-netter
ballot initiative that was covered adequately in
Monday's testimony by the Kenai Peninsula Fisheries
Association. We agree with the association that if
this initiative is allowed to go forward that it will
immediately eliminate 500 setnet family businesses,
most of whom reside in the Cook Inlet region. It will
also severely disrupt processors' efforts for orderly
and efficient production.
Legislative Involvement at the Cook Inlet Board of
Fisheries Meeting, February 2014: Without a doubt we
have seen a change in recent years in how certain
influential people have interacted with the Board of
Fisheries and ADF&G. In the past, fishery management
was a job that was best left to the professionals;
that means biologists who were trained and mentored in
the ever-changing and dynamic field of fisheries
sciences. It takes years of involvement in the
fisheries and a thorough understanding of the
interrelationships between the different fisheries,
gear types, run timing, historical patterns and
emerging scientific data to make informed and
intelligent decisions.
Policies of allowing trained professionals to comment
on the scientific aspects of proposals, even
allocative proposals that are couched in escapement
goal proposals, need to be encouraged. The
professional biologists need to fulfill their job
requirements so Alaska fisheries management can
continue to be the model for the future. We should not
allow the influence of politically motivated people to
affect the best management practices of the salmon
resources that so many Alaskans depend on.
Political influence was clearly apparent at the 2014
Cook Inlet BOF meeting and decisions were made that
did not incorporate the best science and the public
process was pushed aside for expediency. One of the
legislative representatives from the Kenai area filed
a letter of concern regarding the Board's decisions.
As a direct result of this political influence,
drastic new restrictions were placed on the Cook Inlet
commercial drift and setnet fleet in the harvest of
sockeye salmon that had quite an effect.
Many reports were presented to the Board of Fisheries
at the 2014 Cook Inlet meeting. ADF&G presented
several staff reports and individuals and user groups
used ADF&G data in compiling their reports. In
contrast, a report from the Mat-Su Borough Fish and
Wildlife Commission called "Juneau We Have a Problem"
is simply a case study in Alaska fisheries ideology. A
critique has already been presented about that
proposal. As such, it characterizes the Mat-Su Borough
culture of fisheries science and management. It is a
conglomeration of assertions, theories and claims that
hint at a political, social and economic program that
will hopefully lead to getting more fish in the
Northern District Rivers. In actuality, its acceptance
can set a precedent that will lead to the demise of
science-based management in the Board of Fisheries.
4:50:44 PM
Specific Board of Fisheries process issues of concern
leading to a politicized process is something that has
already been touched on by Rick Koch, Manager, City of
Kenai, and the Kenai Peninsula Fishing Association.
There is the issue of board-generated proposals and
the difficulty they present as there is really no
allowance for ADF&G to analyze them on the spot, and
there is also no opportunity for public comment.
There is a need for a pre-screening process that can
deal with the problem of over 200 Cook Inlet
proposals. Too many proposals create too much of a
workload on not only the ADF&G staff but also BOF
members who have to read thousands of pages of
documents. Therefore, the ADF&G and BOF could consider
a pre-screening system using some combination of ADF&G
staff to prioritize a meaningful list of proposals to
be dealt with in a normal cycle, with the goal to
reduce it to a pre-established limit.
Another issue we think could be entertained is the
need for a collaborative and inclusive public process
to develop long term allocative and management
solutions for Cook Inlet salmon fisheries. There is a
need to consider developing an informal stakeholder
process and discussion to identify core problems, a
reasonable range of proposed solutions, and credible
sector representatives that can eventually serve on a
stakeholder committee to seek long-term allocative and
management solutions. Teleconferenced meetings could
be organized outside the normal Board of Fisheries
meeting cycle. The "unofficial process" can be funded
primarily at the expense of stakeholders, who would
also set a schedule for meetings.
Once a critical mass of stakeholders have come to the
table and established some clear alternatives and
demonstrated the desire to continue, the BOF can make
a preliminary decision to sanction the process and
schedule it for preliminary reviews. This has been
successful in other fisheries in Alaska.
4:53:27 PM
The Need for the Board of Fisheries to take action to
protect in-river habitat: Ten Kenai River habitat
protection proposals were submitted to the Board of
Fisheries by Dwight Kramer of the Kenai Area
Fishermen's Coalition (KAFC) Proposals 219-228. These
habitat related proposals recommended seasonal
spawning bed closures to protect Kenai king salmon.
The Alaska Salmon Alliance strongly supported some of
those proposals, in particular, number 219, which was
also supported by the U.S. Department of Interior,
Fish and Wildlife Service. This would have called for
collaboration with the ADF&G to try to work out some
reasonable spawning bed closures.
Conclusions: Economic and Resource Sustainability
Threats from a Politicized Process: The powerful
economic engine of the commercial, sport and personal
use fisheries of Cook Inlet runs on a renewable
resource and requires only two things: science-based
management of salmon for sustained yield and a
reliable and predictable regulatory environment that
allows for an orderly harvestable surplus of salmon.
Current management plans and politics are increasingly
placing salmon runs at risk and setting up unrealistic
expectations for some user groups. As long as there
are sufficient salmon returns, the ASA believes that
you can provide for a healthy commercial fishery.
There will always be reasonable opportunity and
sufficient numbers of salmon to meet the needs of in-
river harvesters and escapement goals. If salmon
returns decline, eventually all users face
restrictions or even closures to meet escapement
goals.
Continued politicization will be the death knell of
sustainable fisheries management and threatens the
State of Alaska fisheries management reputation as a
model for fisheries management in the U.S.
4:55:02 PM
JULIANNE CURRY, Executive Director, United Fishermen of Alaska,
Juneau, Alaska, said the economic data in her presentation are
primary dollar values and do not include the multiplier effects
that are typically included in economic reports. There is very
little data for the seafood industry that includes multiplier
effects.
She showed a slide showing commercial fishing ex-vessel values
of species statewide harvested in Alaska and the price paid to
fishermen at the dock (not including the dollar value paid to
the processor once that seafood is sold).
The average ex-vessel value between 2008 and 2012:
$911 million for groundfish
$544 million for salmon
$259 million for shellfish
$181 million for halibut
$21 million for herring
$10 million for dive fisheries
Commercial fishing harvest volumes:
4 billion lbs. for groundfish (majority is Alaska pollock caught
in federal waters
790 million lbs. for salmon (most of which is pink salmon)
92.6 million lbs. for shellfish
91.4 million lbs. for herring
38.4 million lbs. halibut
2.6 million lbs. for dive fisheries
MS. CURRY said there are over 200 different active commercial
fisheries in Alaska; five different species of salmon are
harvested with four different gear types: seine, gillnet,
setnet, and troll. The five species of salmon are: king,
sockeye, coho, kita and pinks. Pink salmon comprise the majority
of the volume of salmon harvested by the commercial sector.
The groundfish and whitefish fisheries include halibut, pollock,
cod, sablefish (black cod), and many other species. The crab and
shellfish fisheries include king crab, Dungeness crab, snow
crab, scallops, prawn and other species.
Alaska also has a number of herring fisheries that contribute
significant volume and it also has a very unique dive fishery.
Fishing is Alaska. Alaska's commercial, sport, personal use and
subsistence fisheries are all a vital component of our economy
and our way of life. All of these fisheries provide Alaskans
with access to Alaska's fishery resources. Subsistence and
recreational fisheries bring Alaskans to the fish while
commercial fisheries bring the fish to Alaskans.
The seafood industry is fully dependent on sustainable fisheries
management for their livelihood and for the success of their
children. It is Alaska's largest private sector employer
creating over 63,000 direct jobs throughout the state. It
contributes over $130 million in direct tax revenue to the
general fund and also to local municipalities. In Alaska, one in
eight workers earn all or part of their annual income directly
from the seafood industry. Estimated earnings by Alaska-based
permit holders, which does not include crew or processors, is
$681 million.
4:59:01 PM
Direct jobs created by the seafood industry in Alaska produce a
wholesale value of $4.6 billion worth of wild sustainable
seafood and result in an estimated $1.7 billion in labor income.
MS. CURRY said that commercial fishing permit holders and crew
members reside in 217 out of the 355 incorporated cities and
census-designated places in Alaska. These are people who live in
our communities and contribute significantly to our economy.
Virtually every business in Alaska benefits from commercial
fishing dollars through support of dozens of other support
business, such as hardware and marine suppliers, fuel, air and
water travel, shipping, restaurants, super markets, boat
builders, shipyards, accountants, scientists, educators, and
administrators.
5:00:21 PM
The UFA fact sheet, which is compiled by their executive
administrator, Mark Vinsel, indicates that of the 2012 active
permit holders, 74 percent are Alaskan residents and over 10,500
full-year resident crew member licenses were sold.
For the communities in the Mat-Su Borough there are 221 active
permit holders, 446 full-year crew member licenses sold and Mat-
Su-based fishermen landed over $16 million worth of seafood
based on ex-vessel prices.
For the communities in the Anchorage municipality, 499 permit
holders fished in 2012 and over 1200 full-year crew licenses
were purchased, which ranks Anchorage at the highest total
fishing participation in the state. There are over 470 Alaska-
based processing jobs and over $6.8 million in Alaska-based
processing wages. Ex-vessel value of seafood landed in Anchorage
was $10.2 million.
For the communities in the Kenai Peninsula Borough over 1,000
permit holders fished in 2012 and over 1,600 full-year crew
licenses were purchased. There were 893 Alaska-resident
processing jobs earning $7.2 million per year in wages. Ex-
vessel income by Kenai Peninsula-based resident permit holders
is over $120 million.
5:01:54 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE said that was a refreshing presentation, for a
specific reason, because she talked about the combined value.
The reality is that neither side can be sacrificed.
SENATOR GIESSEL noted that she broke facts down by community.
SENATOR BISHOP thanked her and UFA for the jobs they create for
Alaskans, especially jobs on the front end, and for going into
Interior Alaska to find people to work.
5:04:07 PM
ROBERT RUFFNER, Executive Director, Kenai Watershed Forum (KWF),
Soldotna, Alaska, said he wanted to talk today about who they
are, how they are different, some of the key habitat concerns
from what they really do know, and some of the key habitat
concerns that the Forum shares about things that they don't
know, but think they should be looking at more closely. He would
try to summarize with some thoughts they could ponder.
He said KWF was incorporated in 1997 and have a nine-member
diverse board of directors; key to their organization is having
people from the different user groups on the board. They also
try to have some industry representation that is outside of the
fishery industry to include "corporate think." They cover the
entire Kenai Peninsula-plus. The Mat-Su Borough has contracted
with them for mapping skills and remote sensing work to use
there. They are completely non-allocative with respect to fish
and want the fish to come back as abundantly as possible for
everyone.
They have two employees, one in Soldotna and one in Homer, and
do their work through three different programs: education,
research, and restoration and spend $1-3 million/year. The
biggest variable is the type of restoration projects they
tackle.
5:07:28 PM
Their habitat concerns are what most people agree on in a
partnership with 20 different scientists.
1. Invasive species: pike and some water plants like Elodea
2. Warming water/changing hydrologic conditions and flow
patterns
3. Near shore environments: riparian areas that are next to the
lakes and streams that have a unique vegetation type that
support the fish.
Roads and culverts
4. Stream and lakeside alterations
He said the Kenai group picked invasive species for a reason.
The Mat-Su Valley has large areas of pike-infested waters and
they have made a significant dent in the population of multiple
species of salmon to the north. They need to make absolutely
sure that when an invasive species comes into an area that is so
important, like fish, it must be nipped in the bud. The pike
problem should have been dealt with 15 or 20 years ago when it
first emerged. The Kenai Peninsula is lucky that they haven't
spread much there.
5:11:45 PM
Culverts keep juveniles from getting to their habitats and they
have fixed most of the culverts that caused the problems on the
Kenai Peninsula. Mat-Su has a ways to go, but the worst ones are
on the major roads and it's very disruptive to work on them.
It's also expensive.
5:13:23 PM
Priority KWF concerns:
1. Must be very careful during low abundance, especially
focusing on juvenile fish behavior
2. Physical disturbance from intensive freshwater fisheries
3. Effectiveness of existing riparian buffers
It used to be that the ADF&G was keeping a close eye on how
development was occurring near the river and it's been hard for
the Sportfish Division to keep up with it. But they are failing
and it's important to give them help.
MR. RUFFNER encouraged them to read the Alaska Sustainable
Salmon Policy. The Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC) and Department of Natural Resources (DNR) must actively
check a box for anything they do to be compliant with it. More
attention needs to be given to this document.
5:17:11 PM
Difficult message 2: Issues that cut across multiple agencies
are the ones failing to get attention. For example: gasoline
from motorboats going into rivers. People knew it was a problem
and that state water quality standards were being exceeded.
Several hundred gallons a day were going into the river.
Everybody knew it had to be addressed, but no one was really
willing to step up and do it. A lot of finger pointing went on.
The same thing happened at the BOF meeting.
He wished the state would step up instead of having to engage
the federal government. The EPA wrote a letter saying they were
on the Impaired Water Body List, and as soon as that happened,
the finger pointing stopped and people got busy and fixed that
problem.
5:19:10 PM
Recommendations:
-More expertise in sport fish or habitat non-management
fisheries issues is needed, particularly with habitat.
-Independent panels without user groups are needed to help set
research priorities and figure out where the money should be
spent.
-Funding the freshwater habitat research needs with the sales of
fishing licenses is leading to conflicts of interest making it
hard for them to take actions that will hinder them from selling
those fishing licenses.
5:21:07 PM
SENATOR DYSON said he appreciated his comments and gutsy
recommendations and asked how pike get into new systems without
people bringing them in.
MR. RUFFNER answered that they can migrate, but primarily people
bring them in, but it's hard to catch them.
SENATOR DYSON asked what can be done in a lake short of
poisoning everything and starting over.
MR. RUFFNER answered that he was all for that. The way it has
been done is that they remove the non-invasive species from a
lake system and put them in one of the hatcheries, kill the
pike, and put them back. That seems to be working on the Kenai
Peninsula. Removing them from a flowing water creek will be a
lot more difficult.
5:23:04 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE said knew Mr. Ruffner for a long time and that
he can be trusted inherently. He had seen him bring folks
together that previously would have no interest in doing so. Mr.
Ruffner is not a member of any of these groups; he is working
for the fish. He asked if he saw any solutions bringing folks
together to find a way from the northernmost reaches of the
Valley to the southernmost reaches of his district and how would
he start.
MR. RUFFNER answered that they take working together seriously
even though it is difficult. Going through a board cycle adds a
lot of stress. In the arena he works in he hopes the fish
habitat partnerships would bring people together around the
habitat issues. It's hard to separate habitat issues from
allocation issues because it's a blurry line. They will never
get away from arguing about who gets the fish, when and why. The
most important thing they can do is try to hold the user groups
to some level of honesty and civility.
CHAIR GIESSEL found no further questions and thanked Mr.
Ruffner.
5:26:28 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL adjourned the Senate Resources Standing Committee
meeting at 5:26 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SRES Agenda 20140326 UPDATED.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
|
| UCIDA print version 3.26.14.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
|
| SRES UCIDA-CIFF FMP Statement.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
|
| SRES Cook Inlet Aquaculture 20140326.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
|
| SRES Kenai River Sports Fishing Assn 20140326.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
|
| RES Kenai Watershed Forum 20140326.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
|
| SRES United Fishermen of Alaska 20140326.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
|
| SRES UFA Community Fish Facts 2013.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
|
| SRES Alaska Salmon Alliance Presentation 20140326.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
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| RES ASA Brochure 20140326.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
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| SRES ASA- backup 20140326.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
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| RES ASA-Cook Inlet Salmon Fisheries NE Report 20140326.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
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| HB 77 Opposition Documents with Index 03-24-2014 Group #14.pdf |
SRES 3/26/2014 3:30:00 PM |
HB 77 |