Fisheries Management 101

My friend Dave Anderson sent me a book that he knew I'd be interested in. It Paul Greenbergs Four Fish  , 'the future of the last wild food'. The book follows 4 endangered species, Atlantic Salmon, Giant Tuna, Sea Bass and Cod and where they are now and how they got to that point. There were a lot of things that jumped out at me in the book and one of them was this concept of fisheries management by regional fisherman themselves, after all, who is more apt to nurture the fishery than the people most dependent on it? This is actually being done in some parts of the world with mixed success, the tribes of the lower 48 have taken to fisheries management to help the local professionals in many ways...we all know...government seems to be more reactive than proactive, which is what we are needing in fisheries management.  So I know I said I'd keep this blog light and fun but please indulge me once and I promise I won't do it again, but if I were in charge, here's a few things we'd make happen. Lets have fish for the future, and not just our future...all of it.

1. Alaska State Parks has a mission statement to provide outdoor recreation opportunity, in Alaska that means hunting and fishing by and large. The Alaska Dept of Fish and Game manages the resources that State Parks provides access to...so doesn't it make sense for them to all be the same agency ? Right now State Parks is under Alaska's Dept. of Natural Resources which means ...oil. These are the folks that negotiate oil leases, mining permits etc, its all important work for the State but isn't Parks maybe more aligned with Fish and Game  than oil and mining ? So I see an Alaska Dept. of Fish, Game and Parks with a common commissioner all under the same roof. It would expedite what we need, thoughtful Park and Fisheries development that's done cohesively and makes sense.

2. Alaska is the land of plenty and people take plenty, its human nature. We need seasonal bag limits that make sense. Why should we allow for people to take an unlimited amount of salmon as they do now? And why should it be allowed for them to focus all their harvest into one fishery or one season that might be a more fragile fishery than a bigger one that they did not participate in? ie: our Kenai silvers vrs reds. So what I see is a liberal system to allow plenty of Salmon into Alaskan and visitors freezers that might work like this. A punch card allows you for a total or 40 salmon, of which includes your 5 Kings of which 2 can be from the Kenai, 10 silvers, 25 reds and so many humpies or chums...you get the idea. My concern for this came out of our late run silvers. This is great fishery, its healthy and vital, so we can't allow it to be over harvested. People shouldn't be allowed to put up their entire winters worth of salmon off of this one stock, theres plenty of other ways to get the protein and they should use them.

3. When the fish run ends so should the harvest. Some winters with mild weather people continue to fish silvers in the upper river right into December. Does it make sense to harvest fish out of the system that are not being replaced? Especially when you don't know what that harvest could be in numbers from year to year.  Through the years I've heard fish people say that the silver run lasts all winter, that they even come in under the ice...well that's pure bunk. Can you show me anywhere in the world where an anadromous salmon run doesn't end? So our salmon season should end October 1st.

4. Fisheries in Cook Inlet and on the road system should be managed as one. The problem is transference of effort. As we say ' Anchorage is only 20 minutes from Alaska' we have a mobile fishing effort. If one fishery has shortages people simply go to another one and stress it which isn't fair to the fish or the fishermen that traditionally use that place.

5. We need cold clean water. The fragile wetlands along the rivers are essential for salmon reproduction. We need riparian protection and not just in ordinance, they need to be enforced. We continually hear about 'accumulative impacts' but it seems the accumulation never starts until the governments latest project is over. We also need the government to lead by example, don't do anything to the public lands that wouldn't be permitted on  private lands.

6. We need the application of plain old fashioned common sense. For instance, when our freshwater salmon fisheries are in trouble and become regulated for the sake of escapement so should the saltwater fishery...they're the same *&$#@&! fish.  A few years back stock assessment was done in Kachemak Bay out of concern for harvest in the new winter King fishery. Some of the fish were from British Columbia...but now does that pass the common sense test that many of them couldn't be immature Kenai / Kasilof / Anchor River fish?...If you were a salmon and there was food to eat around Homer, would you swim to the Berring Sea anyway ?...

7. We need fisheries Managers that are advocates. And I mean advocates for sportfishing just like the managers in the Commercial fisheries view their jobs as to manage for an economy...

8. We need honesty. The first step in problem solving is to admit you have a problem.  For instance,our sonar is an important piece in the King salmon fisheries puzzle here.  It doesn't work, its never worked, the same people who ran it 20 years ago are still running it....isn't that the definition of insanity ? To repeat the same thing over and over expecting a different result ? Oh, now they want to move the sonar upriver....mmmm.....so, it creates a new set of problems just like the old problems that we could never solve. Maybe we need some kind of review and come up with a plan to fix the current sonar.

9. We need...and have needed for 30 years a limit on guides. We need a 'sustainable' guide industry and I'm sorry, this river, this resource, this economy and our community ain't big enough for 400 of them. The public has asked for this, the guides have asked for this but the government has been 'scared' of doing the right thing. Its true that we hate to inhibit commerce but this is a special place and a special situation, its like no place in the world and it needs solutions like no place in the world. Limited entry is in all the commercial fisheries in Alaska and successfully so...why not for Kenai guides as well? This situation is harvest related, social order related and just common sense. It would also help build a sense of stewardship amongst the active guides. Then we need a fair and reasonable system for new guides to enter the fishery as drop out occurs.

10. Now I might not have all the answers and if  I sound a bit angry its because I am. Our early run is faltering and nobody seems to do anything except to regulate harvest for the year or time frame of the problem and when that's over its back to the same old same old. I've guided and know this River intimately for all my adult life. I've seen biologists come and go and I've also seen the fish come and go...don't ya suppose with all my fisheries involvement and hands on experience mine and others views might have some value ?  But no, we speak up at meetings and the professional managers role their eyes.  Thanks guys...to bad it doesn't effect your pay check to.