On Dec. 18 Wrangell’s advisory committee to Alaska Department of Fish and Game held the last and lengthiest of its public meetings to discuss Board of Fisheries proposals for the 2014-15 meeting cycle.
This 12-person committee let the public review and discuss new finfish management proposals, providing their recommendations to the state board of Fisheries. Consulting them on management policies were Troy Thynes and Patrick Fowler from Petersburg’s ADFG office.
Among the policies the committee supported, it voted ten to two in favor of creating a commercial pot fishery for spiny dogfish in the eastern Gulf of Alaska area.
An underutilized fishery, proponents of the policy change argue it would help develop markets for the shark and would address current difficulties in selectively harvesting them through longline fishing.
Thynes pointed out that the last two board cycles have seen requests to start up a fishery for dogfish. While an experimental commissioner’s permit to pot-harvest them is available, so far nobody has applied for it.
The committee also supported a proposal to allow pots in commercial sablefish fishery, and would support another proposal to establish a 50-fish harvest limit per household on them for personal-use. Currently there is no limit, and the committee’s consensus was that this would be a reasonable policy.
The committee favored requiring groundfish fishermen to report the specific location of their fishing operation when using a dinglebar, mechanical jig, or hand troll gear, reasoning this would improve information being used for fisheries management. It also supported defining mechanical jigging gear separately from dinglebar troll gear, and establishing a limit of 30 hooks to be used per line.
The committee was largely opposed to a proposal requiring all angers to release nonpelagic rockfish at depth while also requiring sport angling vessels to keep one deep-water release mechanism on board. The proposal had ostensibly been made in order to address a 100-percent mortality rate among the fish when brought to and released at the surface. Committee members were also totally opposed to repealing mandatory retention requirements for nonpelagic rockfish.
For sport salmon policies, the committee was supportive of allowing party fishing in Southeast saltwater fisheries. It was also supportive of allowing use of a bow and arrow to take salmon by certified bow anglers.
“At present there isn’t an opportunity,” said John Yeager. He felt the allowance would give the region’s bow anglers more opportunity to enjoy their sport. However, the committee agreed Proposal 156 should be amended to include some limitations, such as requiring arrows to be attached to a line.
All twelve members were opposed to modifying the King Salmon Management Plan by eliminating in-season reductions to the annual limit. The consensus was that it is a useful management tool to make in-season reductions as required. The committee was also opposed to reducing the size limit on king salmon from 28 inches to 26 inches.
The committee was largely opposed to proposals 159 and 160, establishing nonresident annual limits for coho, sockeye, chum and pink salmon in Southeast salt and fresh waters. It also opposed 166, establishing an effective date of April 1 for the District 11 sport fishery for king salmon and rescinding the closure in upper Taku Inlet.
Committee members were also opposed to 186, modifying commercial salmon fishery purse seine and drift gillnet
fishing time rations in the Anita Bay Terminal Harvest Area, and 199 and 200, prohibiting
commercial fishing for salmon and purse seine gear within the possession boundary of Angoon for five years and closing waters within the Admiralty Monument proclamation boundary to those fisheries.
For the same reason, the committee was not in favor of a
proposal by the City of Angoon to close the commercial troll
fishery for coho salmon from August 1 to 10. However, it largely supported 201, closing certain waters of Chichagof and Admiralty islands to commercial salmon with purse seine gear.
“It was to start the process of keeping commercial fishing available,” Fowler explained, by supporting repopulation around those areas.
With the meeting pushing past the three-hour mark, two of the committee members left at 10 p.m. In a close six to four vote, the remaining committee
members supported increasing commercial drift gillnet salmon fishing opportunity in Section 6-D.
It was opposed to Proposal 208, establishing a drift gillnet mesh size restriction in District 8 when the directed king salmon fishery is closed. Members were also against allowing drift gillnets with mesh size of four and seven-eighths inches or less to have a depth of up to 120 meshes.
The committee was also against 223, changing the king salmon harvest percentage for the initial opening in the summer salmon troll fishery from 70 to 60 percent.
The entire 2014/15 Proposal Book can be found online at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov.
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