Walker recommends three for BOF

Gov. Bill Walker has recommended to legislators the appointment of Fritz Johnson, of Dillingham, and reappointment of John Jenson, of Petersburg and Reed Morisky, Fairbanks, to the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

Johnson, a Bristol Bay drift gillnet fisherman, had serve previously on the board, but last year Walker recommended Robert Ruffner of Kenai, former executive director of the Kenai Watershed Forum, to fill Johnson’s seat.

Jensen, who chairs the board, participates in crab and halibut fisheries in Southeast Alaska, and has over 45 years of fishing experience in Alaska. Morisky is a sportfishing guide.

Johnson and Jensen would be the only two board members experienced in commercial fisheries, as Sue Jeffrey, a commercial harvester from Kodiak, who was the board’s vice chair, resigned.

Other current board members include Orville Huntington, Huslia, who has an extensive background in subsistence issues; Alan Cain, Anchorage, a retired Alaska State Trooper with the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection; Israel Payton, Wasilla, who works for AirFrames Alaska, which sells aviation parts; and Robert Ruffner, former executive director of the Kenai Watershed Forum, who serves on the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission.

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