As I've told people all along, I have no doubt our King fishery is in a temporary down turn. We've seen this before. It was only a few short years ago that the Deshka River was on it's knees and within two years they were increasing the bag limits out of abundance of King's. Our habitat is pristine and that's our ace in the hole. All we need is to find out where our mature Kings are going and get them where they need to go. Keep in mind that although it's been a rough spell we have met escapements. I'm one that always thinks that good comes from bad....it's the only way you can make sense of some things in life. So, here's my 10 part series on what we sports people can do to frame this fishery into something we can all be proud of when it does recover....I guess this is my dream list, how it could work so all of you and your grand kids can keep catching fish like this gorgeous one my friend Dick Hahn is holding.
1. We need to quit killing so many fish. We need to keep the sport limit 2 a year but make it so only 1 can be from the early run and one from the late run...I think one 50 pounder is a lot meat for people who like to eat King salmon like I do.
2. We need a limit on guides on the Kenai River. It's a resource related business and we need a sustainable guide community. Right now with a downturn in business we as a community should say yes we want successful business people on the river....but we also want a quality of experience for all people not just the ones who chose to use a guide. A guide permit would have no value and we would have a fair way for young people and new people to enter the fishery.
3. We need to use the river in a gentler fashion. We should encourage more use of drift boats with more drift boat only days and incentives for guides to use them instead of the powerboats. We'll cut down on harvest and at the same time increase the quality of the experience.
4. We need the community to come together. This commercial / sport division has gone on long enough. We need people in leadership that want all aspects of the community to succeed. In order to solve problems we need to create an atmosphere for that to happen....I wish I new how we change these decades old animosities but maybe it's as simple as not listening to or involving the same old same old people year after year after year.....
5. We need to involve our people in the management of these fisheries more, and I mean hands on involvement....I t seems to me that the most cautious approaches would come from people who need it the most....us.
6. To help with number 4, we need fair allocations between the users. So I'm thinking whats fairer than splitting the available harvest fairly, 50 / 50, even Steven.
7. We should encourage and embrace catch and release fishing, maybe set aside a day just for that like we do drift boats. For some reason people in Alaska don't think these King Salmon should be handled and released....It's done ALL over the world with great success, there are places where they attribute C+R to 'saving' the fisheries. Obviously the Alaska Dept of Fish and Game doesn't see a problem with it as they routinely handle these fish. We have science that shows less than 10% mortality and that was with bait and treble hooks. Take away those 2 things and add barb less hooks and a better educated fishing public and I'd bet you anything C+R mortality is almost non existent.
8. We either need to close the river to King fishing at night or we need enforcement out at night. Knowing State Parks like I do I think that closing the river is the only viable option to stop the unfortunate poaching and cheating that goes on....we all know it and do nothing.
9. We need our guides to be truly be stewards of this wonderful place. They need to set examples. So, we need a zero tolerance policy with guides....if you're caught party boat fishing, if you're caught using bait when no bait is allowed, if you cheat you're done. Period.
10. We need our community support organizations to think about what they're doing. Do we really want the Chambers of Commerce around here involved in nothing more than a body count ? Do we really think that more visitors right now is better? Maybe they should focus on improving the product (the river and our fishing) over improving just the promotion and then visitation will take care of itself.
Well.....I wanted to keep it to 10 things and you know what? I could keep going. But I guess the short version of all this and what I expect we can all take from the Clarion when the series is done is this. We just all need to foster respect for all the users who are our neighbors and respect for these wonderful creatures that are our neighbors as well. Once we're in that mode, the rest is 'duck soup' if you ask me.
OK, that's my Kenai River wish list for the year, thanks for bearing with me. Can ya tell I care ? But real soon we'll be down doing what I do best, not the politics....the fishin. I hope you come back and keep reading Mile 14, we'll make it fun.
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