I get so many questions about what we do, I decided to use this Q&A tab to start explaining the ins and outs of what we do to bring in the Salmon harvest each year.
Alaska salmon management: A unique process for a unique state
Post date:
Tue, 11/26/2013 - 11:36am
From the Alaska Journal of Commerce
Editor’s note: this is the fifth in the Morris Communications series “The case for conserving the Kenai king salmon.”
For a young state, Alaska has a long history with fisheries management.
Alaska’s desire to manage fisheries, and salmon in particular, was a driving force during the push for statehood, and more than a century before that, the commercial fishing industry was a major component of the United States purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1857.
For thousands of years, Alaskans have traveled to the ocean and rivers to catch fish, but by the middle of the 20th century, salmon runs were being decimated by Outsiders using fish traps and residents of the territory were determined to retake control as a state.
So when the state Legislature first convened in 1959, creating a plan for fisheries management was one of its early tasks. It came up with a multi-faceted process— the Department of Fish and Game, Board of Fisheries and regional Advisory Committees — that still governs state fisheries today.
The Department of Fish and Game has its roots in the Alaska Fishery Service, which was created in 1949 to try and influence federal management and conduct research. That was renamed the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in 1957. In 1959, the Alaska Legislature made it a state agency.
That same year, the Legislature developed the Board of Fisheries and Game process that oversees wildlife management policy today. Alaska’s Board of Fisheries began as an eight-member body that managed both fish and game; in 1975, it was split into separate boards, each with seven members.
Former board chair Nick Szabo served when the two bodies were separated, from 1974 to 1982. Szabo said the board has the most open process in the state in terms of public involvement in setting regulations. No other state agency has a process as democratic and widely-publicized as the Board of Fisheries, he said.
“It’s probably one of the most democratic processes on the face of the earth,” Szabo said.
The Board of Fisheries is tasked with setting fisheries policy for the state. It makes decisions about allocations, drafts management plans and confirms the escapement goals proposed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, or ADFG.
(An escapement goal is the number of salmon needed to reach the spawning ground to ensure sustainable returns in the future with any surplus available for harvest by commercial, sport and subsistence users. While ADFG sets the sustainable escapement goal, or SEG, the board may set optimum escapement goals, or OEG.
An OEG may not be lower than the sustainable escapement goal, but the board may choose a higher range for reasons such as passing more fish to in-river users.)
Board members are citizens, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. In essence the board has been a sort of buffer between the public and ADFG, Szabo said.
Advisory committees, interest groups, and regular citizens can submit management proposals that the board must consider. The public also has opportunity to provide public testimony, both written and oral, on the proposals.
ADFG also submits proposals, and provides technical and biological information to the board. Once a proposal carries, it is adopted right away and in place when the fishery begins.
When Szabo served, the board met in Anchorage. Once a year, usually in December, it took up finfish proposals, and then in the spring, it talked about shellfish.
“We would have, like, month-long meetings at the Hilton hotel to deal with the whole state,” Szabo said.
Now, the board discusses every fishery on a three-year cycle. Many of the meetings are held in Anchorage, but the board also travels to other communities every year to discuss fisheries in the region.
State leads on in-river management
Fisheries management jurisdiction in Alaska is complex.
On a day-to-day basis, ADFG is responsible for most salmon management.
Generally, the State of Alaska is in charge of management in navigable rivers, and within three miles of shore. The federal government regulates fisheries in the exclusive economic zone from three to 200 miles offshore from Alaska, as well as some in-river fisheries on federal land.
The federal government also delegated most salmon management authority outside three miles to the state through the federal fisheries management plan, or FMP.
The FMP for the western portion of the state prohibits salmon fishing in most parts of the ocean, and excludes certain areas, like Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, leaving the state to manage those areas, said ADFG’s Karla Bush, who works in the extended jurisdiction section.
Removing Cook Inlet from the FMP was not uncontroversial. In early 2013, the Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund and the United Cook Inlet Drift Association sued the federal managers, asserting that the federal government should have retained its ability to oversee state management.
Under the FMP for the eastern area, state and federal managers work jointly to regulate a troll fishery in Southeast Alaska under the Pacific Salmon Treaty with Canada.
The federal North Pacific Fishery Management Council, an 11-member body made up of members from Alaska, Washington and Oregon, is also responsible for managing bycatch of salmon in federal fisheries such as pollock.
The council, which has a majority of six voting members from Alaska including the commissioner of Fish and Game, sets caps on the amount of salmon that can be caught, but, unlike the quick implementation of Board of Fisheries decisions, doing so can be a lengthy process.
It took decades for the council to see a problem with the level of bycatch in the Bering Sea, and, after more than 120,000 kings were taken by the pollock fleet in 2007, another four years to get a regulation capping it implemented in 2011.
The state’s Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission also plays a role in management by limiting the number of participants in certain fisheries.
Although Alaska’s constitution maintains that natural resources, including fisheries, are to be used for the benefit of all, the public voted to allow restricted entry in state fisheries in 1972 for conservation, preventing economic distress or promoting aquaculture. Limited entry is subject to certain restrictions to ensure that Alaskans as a whole still maintain the benefit of the resource, and permits that allow individuals to participate in certain fisheries have limitations of their own.
Fishermen in both the drift and setnet fleets in Cook Inlet must have permits in order to participate, although not everyone with a permit chooses to fish.
Guides on the Kenai River, who receive compensation for helping clients from around Alaska and Outside catch fish, also must have a permit, although those are granted by Alaska State Parks, which is part of the Department of Natural Resources, and are not limited in number.
The state’s desire to manage its own salmon partially stems from statehood and the ongoing state-federal tug-of-war over resource management, but it’s also rooted in a desire for flexible management, both in implementing regulations and changing things based on the most up-to-date information.
“The state manages based on in-season information,” said Bush of ADFG.
ADFG’s commercial and sport divisions are responsible for day-to-day management. They can issue an emergency order, or EO, and act immediately to close or open fishing.
During the summer of 2013, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued more than 50 announcements about who could fish where, and with what gear, in Upper Cook Inlet to meet escapement goals under the management plans.
There was a steady stream of EOs this past summer as managers tried to meet competing goals of harvesting Kenai and Kasilof river sockeyes while meeting escapement goals for other species, most notably the Kenai River late-run of king salmon.
Some of first announcements, issued in April and May, announced closures and limitations to protect Kenai River early-run kings.
Eventually, commercial openings set in regulation were announced, to harvest sockeyes during July, the same time late-run kings return to the Kenai. Throughout the summer, all users — sport, commercial and personal use — were restricted in some way to protect king salmon, whether their gear was limited, fishing time reduced, retention prohibited, or some combination thereof.
Throughout the summer, ADFG assessed salmon runs and harvests via several methods to gauge how many fish were returning, and used the information to try and meet escapement goals.
For each salmon run, managers tried to get an ideal number to return and reproduce. The hope is that if the optimum number of fish return to their natal stream to spawn, future runs will be maximized.
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Having cut and pasted that short article from the Alaska Journal of Commerce... in a nutshell, Alaska's wild salmon is the most regulated fish on the planet! Our successful, sustainable fish runs are the standard for other fisheries worldwide to follow. However, our short season is a result of all the rules, regulations, and politics that come with the increase in population, tourism, personal use, and subsistence harvests. Commercial fishing in Alaska is not what it use to be in the early days. I hope that answered a few questions about the Alaskan Fish management plan.
Alaska salmon management: A unique process for a unique state
Post date:
Tue, 11/26/2013 - 11:36am
From the Alaska Journal of Commerce
Editor’s note: this is the fifth in the Morris Communications series “The case for conserving the Kenai king salmon.”
For a young state, Alaska has a long history with fisheries management.
Alaska’s desire to manage fisheries, and salmon in particular, was a driving force during the push for statehood, and more than a century before that, the commercial fishing industry was a major component of the United States purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1857.
For thousands of years, Alaskans have traveled to the ocean and rivers to catch fish, but by the middle of the 20th century, salmon runs were being decimated by Outsiders using fish traps and residents of the territory were determined to retake control as a state.
So when the state Legislature first convened in 1959, creating a plan for fisheries management was one of its early tasks. It came up with a multi-faceted process— the Department of Fish and Game, Board of Fisheries and regional Advisory Committees — that still governs state fisheries today.
The Department of Fish and Game has its roots in the Alaska Fishery Service, which was created in 1949 to try and influence federal management and conduct research. That was renamed the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in 1957. In 1959, the Alaska Legislature made it a state agency.
That same year, the Legislature developed the Board of Fisheries and Game process that oversees wildlife management policy today. Alaska’s Board of Fisheries began as an eight-member body that managed both fish and game; in 1975, it was split into separate boards, each with seven members.
Former board chair Nick Szabo served when the two bodies were separated, from 1974 to 1982. Szabo said the board has the most open process in the state in terms of public involvement in setting regulations. No other state agency has a process as democratic and widely-publicized as the Board of Fisheries, he said.
“It’s probably one of the most democratic processes on the face of the earth,” Szabo said.
The Board of Fisheries is tasked with setting fisheries policy for the state. It makes decisions about allocations, drafts management plans and confirms the escapement goals proposed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, or ADFG.
(An escapement goal is the number of salmon needed to reach the spawning ground to ensure sustainable returns in the future with any surplus available for harvest by commercial, sport and subsistence users. While ADFG sets the sustainable escapement goal, or SEG, the board may set optimum escapement goals, or OEG.
An OEG may not be lower than the sustainable escapement goal, but the board may choose a higher range for reasons such as passing more fish to in-river users.)
Board members are citizens, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. In essence the board has been a sort of buffer between the public and ADFG, Szabo said.
Advisory committees, interest groups, and regular citizens can submit management proposals that the board must consider. The public also has opportunity to provide public testimony, both written and oral, on the proposals.
ADFG also submits proposals, and provides technical and biological information to the board. Once a proposal carries, it is adopted right away and in place when the fishery begins.
When Szabo served, the board met in Anchorage. Once a year, usually in December, it took up finfish proposals, and then in the spring, it talked about shellfish.
“We would have, like, month-long meetings at the Hilton hotel to deal with the whole state,” Szabo said.
Now, the board discusses every fishery on a three-year cycle. Many of the meetings are held in Anchorage, but the board also travels to other communities every year to discuss fisheries in the region.
State leads on in-river management
Fisheries management jurisdiction in Alaska is complex.
On a day-to-day basis, ADFG is responsible for most salmon management.
Generally, the State of Alaska is in charge of management in navigable rivers, and within three miles of shore. The federal government regulates fisheries in the exclusive economic zone from three to 200 miles offshore from Alaska, as well as some in-river fisheries on federal land.
The federal government also delegated most salmon management authority outside three miles to the state through the federal fisheries management plan, or FMP.
The FMP for the western portion of the state prohibits salmon fishing in most parts of the ocean, and excludes certain areas, like Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, leaving the state to manage those areas, said ADFG’s Karla Bush, who works in the extended jurisdiction section.
Removing Cook Inlet from the FMP was not uncontroversial. In early 2013, the Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund and the United Cook Inlet Drift Association sued the federal managers, asserting that the federal government should have retained its ability to oversee state management.
Under the FMP for the eastern area, state and federal managers work jointly to regulate a troll fishery in Southeast Alaska under the Pacific Salmon Treaty with Canada.
The federal North Pacific Fishery Management Council, an 11-member body made up of members from Alaska, Washington and Oregon, is also responsible for managing bycatch of salmon in federal fisheries such as pollock.
The council, which has a majority of six voting members from Alaska including the commissioner of Fish and Game, sets caps on the amount of salmon that can be caught, but, unlike the quick implementation of Board of Fisheries decisions, doing so can be a lengthy process.
It took decades for the council to see a problem with the level of bycatch in the Bering Sea, and, after more than 120,000 kings were taken by the pollock fleet in 2007, another four years to get a regulation capping it implemented in 2011.
The state’s Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission also plays a role in management by limiting the number of participants in certain fisheries.
Although Alaska’s constitution maintains that natural resources, including fisheries, are to be used for the benefit of all, the public voted to allow restricted entry in state fisheries in 1972 for conservation, preventing economic distress or promoting aquaculture. Limited entry is subject to certain restrictions to ensure that Alaskans as a whole still maintain the benefit of the resource, and permits that allow individuals to participate in certain fisheries have limitations of their own.
Fishermen in both the drift and setnet fleets in Cook Inlet must have permits in order to participate, although not everyone with a permit chooses to fish.
Guides on the Kenai River, who receive compensation for helping clients from around Alaska and Outside catch fish, also must have a permit, although those are granted by Alaska State Parks, which is part of the Department of Natural Resources, and are not limited in number.
The state’s desire to manage its own salmon partially stems from statehood and the ongoing state-federal tug-of-war over resource management, but it’s also rooted in a desire for flexible management, both in implementing regulations and changing things based on the most up-to-date information.
“The state manages based on in-season information,” said Bush of ADFG.
ADFG’s commercial and sport divisions are responsible for day-to-day management. They can issue an emergency order, or EO, and act immediately to close or open fishing.
During the summer of 2013, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued more than 50 announcements about who could fish where, and with what gear, in Upper Cook Inlet to meet escapement goals under the management plans.
There was a steady stream of EOs this past summer as managers tried to meet competing goals of harvesting Kenai and Kasilof river sockeyes while meeting escapement goals for other species, most notably the Kenai River late-run of king salmon.
Some of first announcements, issued in April and May, announced closures and limitations to protect Kenai River early-run kings.
Eventually, commercial openings set in regulation were announced, to harvest sockeyes during July, the same time late-run kings return to the Kenai. Throughout the summer, all users — sport, commercial and personal use — were restricted in some way to protect king salmon, whether their gear was limited, fishing time reduced, retention prohibited, or some combination thereof.
Throughout the summer, ADFG assessed salmon runs and harvests via several methods to gauge how many fish were returning, and used the information to try and meet escapement goals.
For each salmon run, managers tried to get an ideal number to return and reproduce. The hope is that if the optimum number of fish return to their natal stream to spawn, future runs will be maximized.
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Having cut and pasted that short article from the Alaska Journal of Commerce... in a nutshell, Alaska's wild salmon is the most regulated fish on the planet! Our successful, sustainable fish runs are the standard for other fisheries worldwide to follow. However, our short season is a result of all the rules, regulations, and politics that come with the increase in population, tourism, personal use, and subsistence harvests. Commercial fishing in Alaska is not what it use to be in the early days. I hope that answered a few questions about the Alaskan Fish management plan.
