Board of Fish rejects requests to curtail pink salmon stockings
FishingGovernment October 16, 2018 Lee Leschper
Alaska’s Board of Fisheries on Tuesday rejected two proposals from sport fishing advocates to limit additional stocking of pink salmon into Alaska waters.
The Kenai River Sport Fishing Association had submitted ACRs 1 and 2 to the board, with both requests to stop or reduce the take of more pink salmon eggs. KRSA’s requests were citing concerns that the pinks, which make up the vast majority of Alaska salmon today, are hurting other declining salmon stocks by eating too much of the existing forage base.
There were almost two hours of public testimony on the ACRs, mostly from commercial fishing and hatchery supporters who opposed the proposal, citing a need for protection for commercial fishing jobs and the economic importance of the hatchery salmon industry.
“Leave a system that is working alone,” Alaska icon Clem Tillion told the board during public comments, to thunderous applause from the standing-room-only crowd at Anchorage’s Egan Center.
New board chairman Reed Morisky, a Fairbanks flyfishing guide, voted in favor of both ACRs, while the remainder of the board voted no on ACR1. Morisky and board member Orville Huntington voted yes on ACR2, wnile the rest of the board voted no on that request.
There was general agreement that the hatchery process requires better communication with all stakeholders, and that more research is need on both impacts from pink salmon and the overall decline of more desirable chinook and sockeye runs.
More than 2.2 billion pink salmon eggs were harvested by the hatcheries in 2017.
We will provided more detail on the full detail of Tuesday’s discussion on the state’s hatchery programs in a later post. You can read both the ACRs and reports from ADF&G staff to the Board at the Board of Fisheries website for this week’s sessions:
