Local governments are again petitioning to have the Board of Fisheries hold their 2017 Upper Cook Inlet Finfish meeting on the Kenai Peninsula.
Kenai Councilman Brian Gabriel said a request has been submitted for reconsideration of the Anchorage location…
Cm. Gabriel: “With the old Board makeup there was some reluctance to have it down here for whatever reason, so with some changes to the Board, it might be more palatable now.”
That change to the Board was marked by this week’s appointment of Bob Mumford to the seat formerly held by Karl Johnstone.
The request will be considered during the Board’s October work session in Juneau.
Cm. Gabriel: “The biggest thing is it gives people on the Peninsula, where 80% of the proposals that they deliberate are here on the Peninsula, the drainages of our Peninsula, so it gives the people of the Peninsula the opportunity to be engaged int he process without putting their life on hold for two weeks and going to Anchorage and spending a lot of money. Some people can’t afford to do that.”
Last year, representatives from Kenai Peninsula governments and fishing groups asked the Board to meet on the Kenai for the first time in 15 years, earning the cautious support of former Governor Sean Parnell…
Gov. Parnell: “I’ve always said and always thought that Board, just as public officials like myself, ought to be where the people are. That means they need to be on the Kenai, but that also means they need to be in Anchorage, because there are lots of people who utilize the Kenai fisheries, and the Board of Fish has to manage those for all Alaskans.”
And current Governor Bill Walker…
Walker: “I’m going to be the Governor of Alaska and when I tell them to be someplace, I expect them to be someplace. I do the appointments to the Board of Fish. Yes, they go for confirmation before the Legislature, but I will make a decision based on who shows up at the meeting in Kenai as to who’s going to continue on.”