Alaska Board of Fisheries takes up finfish issues

Alaska’s Board of Fisheries will consider 174 Upper Cook Inlet finfish proposals Feb. 23 –March 8 during its board meeting in Anchorage, including those related to the Kenai, Kasilof and Susitna rivers, for commercial, sport and personal use.

The tentative proposal roadmap includes a number of proposals for the Kenai River late run sockeye salmon management plan, and the upper sub-district set gillnet fishery, as well as 17 proposals for the Kasilof River salmon management plan, and 14 proposals for the central district drift gillnet fishery management plan.

Some of the commercial fisheries proposals focus on issues related to optimal escapement goals, in-river goal ranges, the number of weekly fishing periods, and the one-percent rule, where the commercial set gillnet fishery closes after July 31 if less than one percent of the season’s total sockeye is harvested in two consecutive fishing periods.

Read all proposals at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/regprocess/fisheriesboard/pdfs/2016-2017/uci/roadmap.pdf

The board is encouraging the public to submit written comments on specific proposals by Feb. 9 in order for these comments to be included in the board’s workbook before the meeting.

After Feb. 9, written public comments are limited to 10 single-sided or five double-sided pages in length from any one individual or group. Details are online at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=process.comments

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In addition to submitting written public comments the public may give oral testimony during the meeting beginning Feb. 23. The tentative deadline for signing up is 2 p.m. on Feb. 23. Public testimony will continue until everyone who signed up before the deadline and is present has had an opportunity to testify.

All portions of the meeting are open to the public, and live audio stream is intended to be available at www.boardoffisheries.adfg.alaska.gov.

Documents submitted to the board are to be posted online throughout the meeting. Copies of advance meeting materials, including the agenda and roadmap are posted online at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.meetinginfo.

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