Trollers association disappointed with Board of Fisheries decision

Alaska Trollers Association Board President Matt Donohoe said he’s disappointed by the state Board of Fisheries’ decision that he believes will cause continued harm to commercial trollers in Southeast.

“I think residents of Alaska, sport and commercial fishermen, suffered a terrible blow by the Board of Fisheries who favored out-of-state residents over residents,” Donohoe said of the board’s Dec. 1 decision not to more tightly enforce the catch allocation for sport anglers.

The growing charter boat industry was the focus of the proposed regulation, which the board rejected.

Proposal 259, supported by the Sitka Fish and Game Advisory Committee, the Wrangell committee and others in Southeast, would have regulated sport fishing for chinook by in-season management when sport anglers exceed their harvest limit. The intent was to keep the catch closer to their share of the harvest.

The board voted 4-2 to reject the proposal.

The proposal originated with Sitka trollers Dave Richey and Monique Wilkinson in response to the situation this year when guided sport fishermen exceeded their 2023 harvest ceiling for chinook by 17,000 fish, which removed 15,500 chinook from the commercial troll quota, Donohoe said.

“That meant we only had a one-day (trollers) opening in August for the second opening this summer, and it means, going ahead, charter clients will be going over a lot on a regular basis,” he said.

Though the trollers are most acutely affected, Donohoe said this will also affect resident sport anglers and net fishermen. “The resident sport fishermen should also be concerned that most of the sport harvest is going out of state,” he said.

Donohoe had hoped the Board of Fisheries would have approved the proposal because it simply would have reinstated the language approved by the board last year, calling for in-season management of sport fishing for chinook. “In-season management is a cornerstone of Alaska’s Fish and Game management,” he said.

Donohoe said he and other members of the trollers association board will discuss their options going forward because there is a growing concern that there will be no limit to the amount the out-of-state sport harvest will eat into the summer commercial chinook quota. “They’re an unlimited fleet.”