Anchorage Daily News: Alaska's Newspaper

New rules help fish reach river

SALMON: Setnetters must adhere to 36-hour weekend closures.

By JOEL GAY
Anchorage Daily News

Published: January 28, 2005
Last Modified: January 29, 2005 at 08:01 PM

Weekend fishermen should find more salmon in the Kenai and Kasilof rivers this summer after the Alaska Board of Fisheries this week approved new rules that pull some commercial fishing nets out of Cook Inlet before each weekend begins.

The 36-hour closures should cheer the thousands of anglers, professional guides and personal use fishermen wielding long-handled dipnets who descend on the Kenai every summer.

They contend that the Inlet's beach-based commercial setnets pinch off the flow of king and sockeye salmon into the two rivers, ruining recreational fishing for days at a time. The mandatory closures could improve weekend fishing in both streams, state biologists say.

But the regulation change was important in other ways, according to recreational and commercial fishing interests who packed the two-week Fish Board meeting. It was part of a package crafted jointly by long-time opponents in the battle over Cook Inlet salmon -- the Kenai River Sportfishing Association and United Cook Inlet Drift Association -- that gave concessions on both sides.

"That was a first," said Ron Rainey of the KRSA. "It's a giant step forward for the commercial and sportfishing user groups to have a dialogue on their differences and try to reach consensus before throwing the problem in the lap of the Board of Fish."

Drift association spokesman Roland Maw called the new regulations "a positive set of changes for us."

But not everyone came away from Wednesday's vote content. The beach-based setnetters were left out of the negotiations and consequently hurt the most, said Paul Shadura, of the Kenai Peninsula Fishermen's Association.

While the other groups called the deal a "win-win situation," Shadura called it "a travesty of justice. An absolute travesty."

The Fish Board, seven volunteers appointed by the governor, meets several times a year to make region-by-region regulations for commercial, sport and personal use fishermen. State biologists work to ensure the long-term health of the runs; the board's job is to split up the catch.

It's no easy task, given the competing demands for salmon, trout and other fish in Alaska. Cook Inlet meetings are among the most notorious. Meetings can run 10 to 12 hours a day and last for two weeks or more. The information packet for a major meeting can be 12 inches thick.

The area has a century-old commercial fishing industry, coupled with the most popular recreational fisheries in the state. Conflicts between sport and commercial users go back years. More recently, local anglers have begun chafing at growing numbers of visitors and guides, while dipnet harvests have doubled in less than 10 years.

The package of regulations approved Wednesday aimed at eliminating some of the most troublesome areas in upper Cook Inlet regulations exposed since the last time the board met.

For recreational fishermen, it was concern about "predictable opportunity." In previous years they had convinced the board to cut back substantially on commercial fishing time, including a 48-hour closure forced upon Cook Inlet setnetters sometime during the week designed to allow a slug of salmon up the river.

The beach-based nets are a target because they catch more king and silver salmon than the drift gillnet boats that work in the Inlet.

A priority this year for KRSA was to mandate a closure late in the week, said executive director Ricky Gease, which would make weekend fishing more predictable.

Commercial fishermen, on the other hand, wanted the board to allow either more fishing time or better distribution of it. They believe current regulations allow too many salmon to reach the spawning grounds. That means lost income, they say, and the potential for a biological disaster. Studies have shown that years of high spawning can result in the juvenile salmon starving, drastically reducing the return when they become adults.

The Fish Board had dozens of proposals to deal with the various concerns but eventually turned to the alternative that had been hammered out behind closed doors by UCIDA and KRSA.

Board members had been kept abreast of the two groups' work, said board chairman Art Nelson. Though the public would not get a chance to comment on the new proposal, he said, "The ideas in here have all been seen" as parts of other proposals.

Under the package approved, drift gillnet fishermen, who tow salmon-entangling nets behind their boats, get to fish earlier and later in the season. They considered that an important change to improve the quality -- and therefore the price -- of the fish they catch, Maw said.

"You don't catch more fish" under the revisions, he said, "you catch them differently." The additional time allows the fleet to ice and bleed its catch, and gives processors a steadier flow of salmon through their plants.

Setnet fishermen, whose nets stretch out from shore into the Inlet, also get the opportunity for more fishing time. But in return, and in addition to their existing closures, they must shut down for 36 hours every week starting no earlier than 7 p.m. Thursday and no later than 7 a.m. Friday.

Another 24-hour closed window sometime during the week is required in most years but would be lifted during big runs.

Jeff Fox, who manages the commercial fleet for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said it's too early to know how the new regulations will work, and what effect they will have on each fleet's catch.

The new regulations appeared to give a little something to every user group, said board member Robert Heyano.

"It's clear in my mind" that it doesn't ease all the trouble spots, he said. "But when you take into consideration all the user groups, the multiple number of species and different river systems, it's probably about the best we could do at this time."

The board continues its deliberations today and Saturday at the Coast International Inn on International Airport Road.

Daily News reporter Joel Gay can be reached at jgay@adn.com or at 257-4310.