Today the Board of Fisheries voted 6-1 not to have its 2017 Upper Cook Inlet Fin Fish meeting in Kenai.
Kenai City Manager Rick Koch traveled with Kenai City Councillor Brian Gabriel to Juneau this week to present Kenai’s reasons to have the meeting here.
Gabriel said the decision was “clearly disappointing,” but Koch said there was a compromise: the Board will hold its work session here,with one bonus:
Koch: “In addition to that at the work session they added something that’s somewhat unprecedented, the day before the work session they will take public testimony of residents of the Kenai Soldotna area who whoevers there. So there will be some degree of increased access to the board of fishers however not what we had hoped for.”
Board of Fisheries Member Fritz Johnson was the only member to vote yes.
The board has decided to hold their 2017 Upper Cook Inlet Fin Fish meeting in Anchorage, as it is a neutral ground between the Kenai and Mat-Su fisheries.
