Finally : push comes to shove

 MP and I arrived safely back in Helena Montana a few days back and I know I should write about that and the wonder of my life. It's early in the morning as I type and the lights of the valley twinkle in my window and....I just can't write of that as I'm bothered by the news from the Kenai , the unprecedented total closure of  ALL fishing for Kenai Kings, sport / guided / commercial . Now I know nobody likes an outsider with strong views, I know they don't for sure in Montana but in this case I think, no, I know that I've earned a seat at the table and maybe my views can finally get some traction. It's all hands on deck to save and what remains and then common sense at the same time we should plan for the future for our beloved River and Salmon....Craig Medred has a wonderful synopsis of where we are now with the commercial set net fishery . Funny how how it took the wheels to come off the cart before any innovative thinking was accepted....not funny, sad. https://craigmedred.news/2023/03/22/lifting-the-curtain/

I've been wanting to post this picture for years .  I never did it to until now as to be honest I didn't want to run into a commercial fisherman beaming with anger and entitlement at the Fred Meyer store.  Through my history in fish politics I realized that this sport / commercial thing could be violent, so much passion involved....but this pic is revealing. Do you see hard working business people with fish blood covering their Grunden's with a lack of sleep in their eyes from working the nets 100 %/////Nope what you see is a bunch of entitled ' hobbiest ' with a smirky carelessness about them that has become the face of the set net fishery. After all as I 've been reminded many a time, they were here first .

You know how  I like list's so here's some observations from me and then I'll shut up about this forever.

1. The river had it's first closures of Kings over ten years ago. IF recovery doesn't come in a reasonable time and I don't know what that is but if they ain't coming back it's time for the introduction of hatchery fish . 

2. IF we get numbers to allow a return to the hey day or regulations are imposed to allow for commercial and sport fishing I have these suggestions.

A.  Use historical fish tickets to identify the beaches that harvest the most Chinook and close them. I think it will be shown that those areas are Salamantof  south. Or just expand the closed waters area at the mouth of the river to include all those sites.

B. The winter King fishery in Homer has to be looked at seriously...it defies common sense that a good chunk of those fish aren't immature Cook Inlet , ie : Kenai Salmon. 

C. The sport fishery on the Kenai has never had a starting date and I've alway's felt that the first Kings to the river were caught at a way higher rate than later in the season when the river get's twice as much water and get's it's Kenai green turbidity that also helps cut down on harvest.  I remember days of excellent results with sonar counts that were in the handfuls...

D. For sportsman a yearly harvest limit on ALL salmon. It might work something like this....you have a punch card for one King, so many reds, so many silvers etc .  Structured so that Alaskans who live off of eating fish have all they need but not from the harvest of the smaller runs .

E. Just as we need a start to the season we need an end to all fisheries, especially fall Silvers . 

F. No derbies, tournaments , fund raisers until the fish come back.

G. Escapement goals are ridiculously low .

3. We need to re vamp the Board of Fisheries . The politics, the appointments the whole system basically stinks. It might be open and more fair than the North Pacific Fisheries Council but that ain't saying much. Maybe it's time for the long talked about paid professional Board .

4. by catch in any and all fisheries has gotta be looked at with the goal of  zero. Reward the people who figure it out and penalize the ones that don't want to, can't or don't care.. 

Well...I'll stop there. I've vented .  And yes , I feel a little responsible like I know all my peers do. Nobody either commercial or sport did anything they weren' t allowed to do. We just did what Americans do, see opportunity and take advantage. Now that I'm retired I look back and remember thinking that we were building this guide industry for the future and that we did. But a few things went off the rails and it's so sad that for at least the chase and harvest of those gorgeous , huge and sporty not to mention absolutely delectable fish turned into a one generation deal. I'm sorry for that . We should have done better. That boat , all of us .

Me and my friend Bill with a 70 pounder. I hope and pray they return and I still think they can....but the cost and sacrifice is sooo huge . This where I wish all my friends on the Kenai the best .  Hang in there.