The Kenai-Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Committee welcomed five new members to its ranks Wednesday night following its annual election.
Named to the committee, which is responsible for advising the statewide boards of fish and game, were Soldotna fishing guides Joe Hardy and Mel Erickson; Kenai Peninsula College adjunct professor Dr. Steve Stringham; Soldotna lodge owner Jim Kuhnsman; and former Riverside Auto owner Rollin Braden of Funny River.
Hardy and Erickson were named to fill two of the committee's three, three-year guide seats, while Kuhnsman was elected to a two-year at-large seat. Stringham and Braden were elected to serve one-year terms as alternates on the board.
Hardy and Erickson beat out Paul Zimmerman, Dan France and incumbent Bill Toppa for the guide seats; while Kuhnsman, Stringham and Braden were the only three people nominated to fill the at-large seats. The five new members join Paul Shadura, Roland Maw and Dyer VanDevere, who were re-elected unopposed to their commercial fishing seats on the board.
The election process was much more subdued than the committee's previous election, when the nomination process alone took more than an hour. This year, although there was a large turnout from the public, the process went relatively smoothly and quickly.
During the elections, committee chair Dwight Kramer thanked the public for its large show of support for the process.
"Elections are important to our process and I'm glad everybody came out," Kramer told the standing-room only crowd gathered in the meeting room of the Kenai River Center in Soldotna.
The lack of controversy this year may have had something to do with the fact that the committee has made efforts over the past two years to include more equal representation from all sectors of the local community. The committee is now comprised of three seats each for commercial and guide representatives, and anyone who represents either group cannot hold an at-large seat.
That change was evident Wednesday, as representatives from the Kenai River Sportfishing Association, Kenai River Professional Guides Association, United Fishermen of Alaska, Kenai Peninsula Fisherman's Association and United Cook Inlet Drift Association all were in attendance, and not a word was voiced by anyone about unequal representation on the committee.
That feeling of unity was evident in the speeches nominees gave before the vote. Almost all expressed a concern to look out first and foremost for area wildlife resources without pushing any specific agenda.
"I don't advocate any personal biases toward one use over another," Hardy said.
Hardy's comments were representative of all nominees who spoke on their own behalf, with a few minor differences. Stringham said he would bring a wealth of technical knowledge to the board, while Kuhnsman said he believes the committee needs to work toward re-creating a community spirit in the Kenai-Soldotna area.
After the new and returning members were seated, the committee got down business, taking up a number of discussions that related mainly to the salmon fisheries of upper Cook Inlet.
First up on the agenda was a report from Alaska Department of Fish and Game Regional Management Biologist for Cook Inlet Tom Vania. Vania started out by telling the committee that the Murkowski administration recently asked the department to come up with legislation to deal with fishing guides on a statewide level, and that the department had done so. Vania went on to say that the legislation is now in the hands of the administration, which is in the process of finding a state legislator to sponsor a bill.
Vania was unable to tell the committee exactly what might be contained in such a bill, only that it "will not reduce guide numbers on the Kenai."
Instead, he said it would likely be more of a move toward requiring occupational licensing for fishing guides as is now done for hunting guides.
Committee members told Vania they were distressed with what they perceived as the Murkowski administration's failure to listen to area residents on the need to reduce Kenai River guides.
"This has not been subject to public notice or comment," Kramer said.
"What we're concerned with is something nobody's seen, nobody knows what's in it ... and won't limit guides," committee member John Nelson said.
After delivering the news of the possible legislation, Vania updated the committee on the status of two proposals the committee has recommended to the Alaska Board of Fisheries for its 2005 meeting which seek to make changes to the state's sustainable salmon policy. The proposals are now in the hands of the department, which can make its own recommendations to the Board of Fish.
Vania said proposals 2 and 3, which would change how biologists manage fish runs and ‹ among other things ‹ enable them more freedom to allow commercial harvest, have been looked at by a department panel, which decided to take no action until October.
Vania also briefly updated the committee on its request that the department re-evaluate its chinook salmon counting procedures. He said he's unsure whether such a review is in the works, but that the department certainly would welcome an outside take on its counting mechanism, which uses both netting and sonar to determine the size of king salmon runs.
"We've never said no to an independent review," Vania said.
Following Vania's report, Larry Marsh, local assistant area management biologist, took the hot seat in front of the committee. Marsh said the department is currently in the process of determining whether to switch its focus in determining how many kings are caught on the Kenai from a creel sample to a scientific model. Marsh said the process may be more useful than a creel sample, but the department still has not decided.
"We haven't made a decision on creel or not for next year," Marsh said.
Committee member Dyer VanDevere took Marsh to task on the idea, wondering aloud whether a model would be effective in determining how many fish are caught on a dynamic system like the Kenai.
"How can that possibly happen?" VanDevere asked.
Marsh said the department uses models for a number of purposes, and that doing so might give them freedom to better and more efficiently manage the run during the season. He said if a model is used, the department could still use its statewide harvest survey to check its numbers.
"If the fishery changes dramatically, we would know from the survey," Marsh said.
Wrapping up the meeting, department research biologist Bruce King gave an update on the status of the department's study of Kasilof River king salmon. He showed numbers that illustrate that the river's early (through June 30) chinook run appears to be at a healthy level, and that the department by 2005 will likely have a plan in place to harvest wild fish. Currently, only hatchery-born chinook are allowed to be harvested on the Kasilof from Jan. 1 through June 30 on the Kasilof. Wild fish can be taken on the Kasilof in July, but only downstream of the Sterling Highway bridge.
King also briefly updated the committee on the status of its ongoing areawide coho salmon evaluation, saying he'll be come back to the committee at its next meeting to discuss coho numbers.
As it was then after 10 p.m., Kramer decided to table any remaining issues before the committee. He set the next meeting for Jan. 28 at 6:30 p.m., at which time the committee will discuss proposals for the 2005 Board of Fish meeting.
