Letter to The Editor

Letter to the Editor:

In 1971 a friend took me out on his boat fishing for king salmon. From that day on I wanted to fish for kings. Starting out in my teens I spent most of my youth fishing after that. A few years later limited entry was created, I missed out on a power permit because of living in Ketchikan. After that came gear reduction, power trollers went from six lines down to four, hand trollers went from four down to two.

All this to relieve pressure on the king salmon along with a quota. I learned a lot from an old fisherman and one thing he taught me was fish management is 90 percent politics and still is today. South of Wrangell there are five streams that at one time had big returns of big fish, Lack of management is the fault.

Last year’s derby fish destination is kept confidential and for a good reason. But the lack of protection could wipe out that genetic strain forever. I feel the state has failed in its part to protect these kings in these streams. If we could get the Board of Fish to manage the mosquitoes the way they manage king salmon, in a few years we would not have many mosquitoes left.

J Colier