Senators Peter Micciche and Mike Dunleavy have joined other legislators in requesting a reconsideration of a ruling that would allow subsistence gillnets in the Kenai River.
A joint letter sent to the Federal Subsistence Board states, “It is our opinion that the board did not adequately consider the in-depth biological information regarding Chinook salmon spawning in this reach of the Kenai River.”
The Board made the decision January 22.
Soon after, we spoke with Alaska Department of Fish and Game Southcentral Regional Sport Fisheries Management Coordinator Matt Miller said that move is a cause for concern for a number of reasons.
Miller: “So right now we’re in a low productivity for kings salmon and the Board of Fish which is the state of Alaska’s regulatory board has taken action in southcentral and throughout the state to conserve king salmon and this would be a new sort of varied fishing gear type up there and so it’s kind of a contrast to that. This is also a mixing and a spawning area which is not a good place to be floating a gillnet through and is in contrast to the federal management policies. They said on record yesterday that they don’t do that and I think that’s one of the reasons that Fish and Wildlife Service even opposed this proposal.”
Micciche and Dunleavy pointed out that they are not against other methods of subsistence on the Kenai Peninsula, however, “The fact that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game staff all recommended against approval of FP 15-10 in a narrowly passed action should be justification to reconsider.”
