Forty-seven proposals are on the agenda for the Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting at the Alaska Vocational Technical Center in Seward Dec. 10-13, including one to cap the number of each salmon species harvested for cost recovery in private nonprofit salmon hatcheries.
Proposal 22, submitted by Mike Frank, contends that there is a need for the fisheries board to establish by regulation a cap or numerical limit on the percentage of returning fish, by species, that a hatchery may harvest for cost recovery purposes.
According to the proposal a limit on cost recovery fish in these hatcheries is needed to eliminate adverse consequences of hatcheries producing too many pink salmon solely for the purposes of fulfilling revenue targets and to otherwise serve the overall statutory goal of hatcheries, which is to restore and enhance deplete fish populations for the common fisheries.
Other proposals up for consideration range from one to designate the Aleutian Islands subdistrict as an exclusive registration area for Pacific cod to creation of a king salmon management plans with paired restrictions in Kodiak and Cook Inlet commercial fisheries, and also for Upper and Lower Cook Inlet commercial fisheries.
All portions of the meeting are open to the public and a live audio stream will be provided on the board’s website at boardoffisheries.adfg.alaska.gov.
Documents submitted to the board are to be posted online throughout the meeting.
Copies of advanced meeting materials, including the agenda and roadmap, are available from the Boards Support Section, at 907-465-4110 or online at adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.meetinginfo.
Written comments on specific proposals are encouraged and may be submitted online at adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=process.comments.
