Some changes to the federally-administered subsistence fisheries were recommended by the Southeast Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council (RAC) at its three day meeting at Wrangell's Nolan Center last week.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Robert Larson explained the meeting's agenda featured an uncommon mix of proposals from the state boards of Game and Fisheries, since the regulatory cycles of both synchronized with each other this year.
“It doesn't happen very often,” he noted.
Of particular concern for Wrangell's subsistence fishers were proposed changes to usage of the Stikine River.
The suggested changes were aimed at improving accountability and ensuring good use by encouraging responsible fishing practices, but Eagle explained the advisory committee's decision was not unanimously reached by any means.
This included closures of nighttime fishing, “closely monitored” nets and a recommended change in cap from 600 to 2,000 fish.
“This proposal was developed over the course of a little over a year,” explained Brennon Eagle, speaking for the Wrangell Fish and Game Advisory Committee.
Seals were part of the concern for nighttime closures, but Eagle said the other hope was that it would open up opportunities for short-term fishermen to have a try at better positions on the river.
“People with more time tend to monopolize good spots,” he mentioned. He said the net rules would also address enforcement issues by having people near their nets, able to remove fish as they're caught and also deal properly with seals.
“We've adopted a very loose definition of 'closely attended,'” he said. The regulation change he said would also allow ADFG to seize abandoned or lost nets.
Arnold Enge was chairman of the Petersburg Subsistence Advisory Council when the proposal was drafted, and he told RAC it largely agreed with the conclusions Wrangell's had arrived at.
The major difference was the closely-attended nets; he said Petersburg instead preferred a two-hour rule.
“It's kind of rare for Wrangell and Petersburg to be in agreement on something,” Eagle joked.
Several local subsistence fishermen appeared to present testimony to RAC.
Kim Covalt, a longtime fisherman, was opposed to staying with the net the whole time. Brenda Schwartz-Yeager also came forward, explaining subsistence usage provides food for her family.
“It's also an important fishery for me because it's part of a lifestyle,” she added.
She was on the one hand opposed to a ban on nighttime hours, but was also supportive of tighter documentation. But having to closely tend nets on the river she felt would create a hardship because of strenuous conditions posed by the wind and current.
From what she's seen, Schwartz-Yeager said people usually remain near their nets, typically leaving only at intervals to smoke or prepare the fish they've caught.
After discussing the recommendations and comments, RAC members decided to forego mandating nighttime restrictions and, instead of “closely monitored,” opted for requiring nets to be checked on twice a day. They also recommended striking the cap on sockeye entirely, to more closely reflect actual usage of the fishery.
Meeting twice annually, the RAC passes its recommendations along to the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB), a decision-making body overseeing the Federal Subsistence Management Program, which will consider the recommended changes when it meets in January.
That board is made up of the regional directors of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, bureaus of Indian Affairs and Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and three public members appointed by the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture. All authority to manage fish and wildlife for subsistence uses on Federal public lands and waters in Alaska are delegated to the FSB.
At its meeting, the RAC also decided to support measures defining a fishing hook as being with or without barb, restricting use of seines and gillnets in the Klawock River due to conservation concerns and closing Makhani Island to non-subsistence herring fishing.
Items it opposed included allowing use of a bow and arrow to fish because it is not considered traditional. It also opposed making the recording of steelhead harvests mandatory on Prince of Wales and Kosciusko islands, considering it instead sufficient to make that part of the permitting conditions.
The council's next meeting is tentatively set for mid-March in Yakutat.
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