In the January 22 meeting of the Federal Subsistence Board in Anchorage, members voted to open subsistence gillnetting on both the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game Southcentral Regional Sport Fisheries Management Coordinator Matt Miller said that move is a cause for concern for a number of reasons.
Miller: “So right now we’re in a low productivity for kings salmon and the Board of Fish which is the state of Alaska’s regulatory board has taken action in southcentral and throughout the state to conserve king salmon and this would be a new sort of varied fishing gear type up there and so it’s kind of a contrast to that. This is also a mixing and a spawning area which is not a good place to be floating a gillnet through and is in contrast to the federal management policies. They said on record yesterday that they don’t do that and I think that’s one of the reasons that Fish and Wildlife Service even opposed this proposal.”
He said another concern is the impact it could have on Rainbow Trout fishing in the Kenai River.
Miller: “State regulations for the sport fishery are very restricted up there, I think there’s one month out of the year that you can even use bait or multiple hooks so mostly it’s a single hook, no bait, there’s bead restrictions on there for when you can fish with beads and so it’s a very restricted fishery for rainbow trout, really trying to be conservative on that management and floating gillnets through there is not really in alignment with that management philosophy.”
The Ninilchik Traditional Council brought the proposals forward and according to Miller there was opposition from the state on both proposals.
The Federal Subsistence Board is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior and controls federal subsistence. Some of the local managers on the board from the Kenai Peninsula also opposed the Kenai River gillnets but the board voted 4 -3 in support of the Kenai proposal and unanimously for the Kasilof.
There are three Alaskan Native Tribes will be permitted to subsist in the areas.
