Outdoors

Sport fishermen and chum trollers have reached a compromise in a salmon allocation battle in northern Southeast.

Chum salmon trolling is relatively new in Southeast.

“It’s only in the last 20 years, but particularly in the last four or five, the trollers have really been able to target hatchery chums,” said Eric Jordan, who represented the Chum Trollers Association at the Ketchikan Board of Fisheries meeting.

He said the Icy Strait and North Chatham Strait fisheries were worth $1 million to trollers last year.

They wanted the fishery to grow. So they put a pair of proposals, numbers 325 and 326, before the Fisheries Board.

One expanded spring harvest areas in Icy and Chatham straits. The other added a summer troll area in upper Stephens Passage, which is much closer to Juneau.

That didn’t go over well with capital city anglers. Larry Edfelt of Juneau-based Territorial Sportsmen says the plans encroached on popular fishing areas.

“We wanted to protect the king and coho access. And we were afraid that if you put 150 trollers into the north end of the Juneau area that a lot of juvenile kings and feeder kings and cohos would be caught in addition to a lot of chums,” Edfelt said.

Rather than butt heads before the board, they decided to work together on a compromise. The commercial group gave up much of what it wanted, while the sportsmen dropped objections to the remaining fishing grounds.

Jordan said it was a good deal for chum trollers.

“We ended up with less area and less time than we wanted in the new area on the Admiralty shore. But we figure we’ll have an even higher percentage of hatchery fish,” Jordan said.

He said the compromise allows trollers to target hatchery chums and hatchery kings, switching from one to the other as caps are reached.

Edfelt said the sportsmen are satisfied, because they were able to keep trollers out of popular fishing areas off the northern part of Juneau.

“They agreed to not only a reduced area but (also) a four-day fishery that did not include Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Edfelt said.

The measure has a sunset clause, so the expansion will come back before the Fisheries Board in three years. And there’s more to the agreement.

“The chum trollers have agreed to not try to expand that fishery without gaining the consensus of the Juneau sport fishermen and charter fishermen, as well as the gillnetters,” he said.

The compromise is one of a number that developed during – or leading up to – the Fisheries Board meeting.

Jordan said that’s becoming more common. He says it’s good for Alaska’s fisheries.

“If the interest groups will get together and solve their own problems, as much as they have to compromise, they usually end up with a better deal than if the seven dark angels of the Board of Fisheries have to swoop in and decide it for you,” he said.

He credits the board, particularly Chairman Karl Johnstone, for encouraging negotiations.

Johnstone said he puts the proposals with the most impact before the whole board, rather than running them through a committee. He said that seems to quell some of the controversy.

“And the wind kind of goes out behttp://ktoo.sandbox.5mts.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=15264&action=edit&message=10cause everybody has pretty much decided one way or the other what’s happened. And the rest of the proposals are available and people seem to be more conciliatory,” the retired judge said.

Gillnetters, Fish and Game Department staff and a charter group joined the chum trollers and the sportsmen in drafting this particular compromise.

Their measure passed the board on a unanimous vote.

Find out what else passed and failed.

Check out earlier fish board reports:

Sides in herring debate take case to Board of Fish

Board allows Jensen to vote on herring issues

Fish board OKs some Sitka herring changes

Seiners out of West Behm Canal herring fishery

State says per diem charges were proper

Sport anglers will not get to fish for king salmon in the Taku River. And personal-use fishermen won’t be able to use dipnets or have a longer sockeye season.

The state Board of Fisheries rejected several requests to change Taku River fishing during its meeting in Ketchikan. The salmon-rich waterway, east of Juneau, runs from British Columbia to Taku Inlet.

The sport Chinook fishery was proposed by the Taku Users Group, representing riverbank cabin-owners. Fish and Game Department staff warned it could violate an international agreement governing fisheries from Oregon to Alaska.

Juneau board member Bill Brown spoke in opposition.

“It flies in the face of the history we have about fresh water salmon fishing,” Brown said. “Also, we have a problem with treaty fish. That’s an ugly nightmare we don’t want to open yet again.”

Some of the same objections came up with other proposals from the Taku Users Group.

One would have extended the personal-use fishery from mid-June through August to coincide with a gillnet opening. Another would have increased the household bag limit based on the number of family members.

Yet another would have allowed personal-use dip nets in the river, which Juneau residents access by boat.

Talkeetna board member Tom Kluberton said it would be popular.

“I think we would unleash a tremendous dip net fishery from boats down that way. That would offer much more opportunity to go and try for this harvest,” Kluberton said.

But other concerns, including salmon treaty implications, led the board to vote the proposal down.

It also rejected an Alaska Trollers Association plan to increase access to Taku River kings. Trollers proposed lengthening openings and changing how they are determined. Now, they’re tied to the gillnet fishery, which has a larger harvest.

Kodiak Board member Sue Jeffrey said she understands trollers want an equitable share. But she said the plan would create more conflicts.

“This is an area where we should just back off for now and let the rebuilding continue. So I’m leaning away from supporting this,” Jeffrey said.

Like other Taku River proposals, it failed on a unanimous vote.

Read or hear related reports:

Sides in herring debate take case to Board of Fish

Board allows Jensen to vote on herring issues

Fish board OKs some Sitka herring changes

Seiners out of West Behm Canal herring fishery

State says per diem charges were proper

 

Kids are training and ski racing every weekend at Eaglecrest Ski Area. But when was the last time their parents ran the gates? They’ll get a chance on Saturday at the Town Downhill.

Skiers and snowboarders of just about any age can race in the Giant Slalom, says Juneau Ski Club head coach Dan Ord.

“If you are up there and out of control, if you really can’t ski, we’re going to reserve the right to say this might not be for you,” he says, laughing. “But as far as a 10-year-old kid wanting to challenge his mom or his dad to a race, it’s not going to be a downhill, it’s going to be a GS set on a course, coming down upper Hilary’s, rockin’ through the throat and all the way down lower Hilary’s.”

It’s been years since public races were held at the city-owned ski area. Ed Squibb recalls the three-race Rainier Challenge in the mid-1980s:

“We combined the times of all three races. We started in the West Bowl and went straight down Raven and Log Jam. It was incredibly fast. And we’d usually go down Cheechako and start right under Steep Chutes,” he says. “And then toward the end of the year in the spring we started in the East Bowl, right about were the rope line is. We came through there and under Steep Chutes and down Cheechako. That was a fast one, too.”

The winner of the Challenge got a pair of K2 skis topped with the Rainier beer logo. That’s not the case this year, but there will be prizes (and T-shirts).

Contest categories are ages 10 to 12, 13 to 16, and 17 and over.

Squibb will be setting the course. He says it won’t be a conventional GS; instead, turns will be more open to accommodate snowboarders. He also plans to race.

That means he’ll be competing in the category of 17 and up at age 60-something.

“You can’t get rid of the (race) bug, I guess,” he says.

The race includes two runs – one in the morning and one in the afternoon — with free BBQ in the middle.

Squibb and Ord say they’ve been planning the Town Downhill since early fall and hope it’s the first of an annual public race program at Eaglecrest.

Guided fishermen will have to return deep-water rockfish to a safe depth under a plan approved this week by Alaska’s Board of Fisheries. The proposal is an unusual compromise between longliners and charter-boat operators.

Yelloweye live a couple hundred feet below the ocean’s surface. So the rockfish usually die when they’re reeled in – because of the difference in pressure.

That occurs when fishermen are over their limit and throw them back.

“It does happen relatively frequently, particularly with declining halibut stocks, there’s increased pressure on DSR resources,” says Heath Hilyard, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Guides Organization.

The group, called SEAGO, represents about 40 regional charter-boat operators.

DSR is short for demersal shelf rockfish, a group of near-shore bottom-dwellers.  Yelloweye are the most sought. They’re sometimes called Pacific red snapper or red rock cod.

A variety of devices can be used to return the rockfish safely. The most basic are weighted milk crates.

“Essentially, they are put in the crates upside down, dropped and then they pull the line back up and the fish can swim away at depth, increasing survivability,” he says. “There’s reverse hooks and a variety of different mechanisms that can be used. Ultimately, you bring the fish back down to a reasonable depth to where they can survive and then pull back the line.”

He says up to 90 percent of caught rockfish survive when quickly returned to deep waters. Only about 10 percent make it when released on the surface.

The Board of Fisheries considered several yelloweye proposals at its Ketchikan meeting.

One, from the charter group, would have increased the sport allocation at the expense of the commercial sector. It was unanimously voted down.

Two others, one from the guides group and the other from Sitka’s board advisory committee, required safe, deep rockfish release.

The approved measure was a compromise among charter and commercial interests.

The conflict came before the fish board about half-a-dozen years ago.

“And at that time the board told both of us to figure out a way to live within your allocation,” says Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, known as ALFA.

She says commercial fishermen put together a conservation network. It began mapping the seafloor, identifying where the accidental yelloweye harvests are high.

“Fishermen are moving their gear out of the high bycatch areas. We saw a 20 percent reduction in the bycatch rate of the fishermen participating in this network. The commercial fleet has not been over its allocation in the last six years,” she says.

She says her group was unhappy charter operators wanted to increase their take after several years of exceeded allocations.

Despite many battles over halibut, longliners and charter groups worked together on the compromise that was passed.

Behnken says the plan originally included individual sport fishermen. But that changed on the advice of Department of Fish and Game staff.

“They suggested we make it charter-only because of the implications of educating every sport angler about having to have one of these devices and release at depth. Then we both signed on,” she says.

Longliners mostly target halibut, not yelloweye, so their harvest is bycatch they’re allowed to keep, within limits.

But the guide organization’s Hilyard says more charters are chasing the rockfish.

“It’s not a species that a lot of our guys go out of their way to target. But it’s a natural bycatch for halibut. And with halibut declining, there’s increased pressure because it’s an additional species that clients can catch,” he says.

The safe-release requirement goes into effect next year. Hillyard calls it a key conservation measure.

See a video of how a fish descender works.

Read or hear related reports:

Sides in herring debate take case to Board of Fish

Board allows Jensen to vote on herring issues

Fish board OKs some Sitka herring changes

 

The state Board of Fisheries today (Tuesday) decided to continue allowing sport anglers to use electric reels. The panel voted down a proposal prohibiting power-assisted reels, except for disabled sport fishermen.

Power-assisted devices have been controversial since they came on the market.

Supporters say it’s just one more piece of gear in an ever-expanding toolbox. Opponents say it’s too easy, and gives too much access to commercial black cod stocks.

Current rules limit the size and weight of powered gear, but not who can use it. The proposal would have limited use in Southeast Alaska to people with disabilities.

Author Steve Merritt, president of the Alaska Trollers Association, testified power-assisted reels are taking the sport out of sport fishing.

“I mean it also on the principal of fair chase. We have rules for no night scopes, spotlighting deer, all involving electricity. That’s not really considered fair chase,” he said.

Some sport fishermen use electric reels to target black cod, which are also called sablefish. The deep-water dwellers can be hard to catch without power assistance.

Larry Edfelt spoke on behalf of Juneau-based Territorial Sportsmen.

“Outlawing electric reels would close the black cod fishery in Juneau and the northern Chatham area. We fish in 1,500 to 2,000 feet of water there. It takes 10 minutes just to get the bait down,” Edfelt said.

Guided fishermen also use the devices. Richard Yamada of the Alaska Charter Association testified the plan is the wrong way to approach the issue.

“I think this proposal was a go-around to just restrict, to try to control harvest of sablefish. And I think the appropriate way is bag limits,” Yamada said.

Board of Fisheries members voted 6-1 against the proposal. Petersburg’s John Jensen was the only one in support.

Member Sue Jeffrey of Kodiak said it’s a social issue.

“I liken this to a debate in Kodiak about whether we should allow people to hike up a mountain on 4 wheeler versus on foot. The outdoors is for all users and for some people, just getting out in a boat on the water is sporting enough,” Jeffrey said.

Representatives of local Board of Fisheries advisory committees voiced support for the proposal.

Department of Fish and Game staff said the best way to reduce power-reel use would be to ban it all together. They said existing rules could allow disabled people to use the devices.

The proposal was among 145 before the board. Deliberations continue through Sunday.

Listen to the meeting online: Scroll down to Live Media Audio to find the player.

Read proposals and a wrap-up of action: Click on Southeast and Yakutat Finfish – February 24-March 4, 2012, and look for Proposals or Summary of Actions.

Read or hear related reports:

Sides in herring debate take case to Board of Fish

Board allows Jensen to vote on herring issues

 

As we reported yesterday, a new study says avalanches from Mt. Juneau pose an “unacceptable risk” to Capital City residents and property. The study also recommends the city buyout at risk homes. KTOO’s Casey Kelly reports.

Consultants from the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research looked at Mt. Juneau’s Behrends Avenue and White Subdivision avalanche paths last year.

Over the centuries, slides have carved out huge swaths of hillside on the 35-hundred foot peak overlooking a pair of neighborhoods near downtown Juneau.

The report makes clear it’s only a matter of time before the next large avalanche impacts one of those neighborhoods, says the city’s Emergency Programs Manager Tom Mattice.

“They looked at the history from the early 1900s all the way to present and in the Behrends path they found three avalanches reaching tidewater, in 1890, 1926, and 1962. In 1962 only the wind event reached the tidewater. But in the other two events, snow mass reached the tidewater in great amounts,” said Mattice.

Computer model of a 30 year dry powder avalanche with a 1.4 meter depth in the Mount Juneau starting zones. Video courtesy of City and Borough of Juneau Emergency Programs.

The report says the most effective way to reduce the risk of avalanches from the Behrends path is to have the city buyout homes in the neighborhood below and prohibit development there.

Other measures – such as snow dams and retaining walls near houses, or snow supporting structures on the hillside – are too expensive and might not protect the neighborhood. The report says they could be effective in the White subdivision, which contains fewer homes, but there would need to be more study.

Likewise, Mattice says the consultants do not recommend using explosives to artificially release snow on Mt. Juneau.

“With a mean inclination of 34 and 35 degrees, those are very, very active avalanche paths,” Mattice said. “The worst case scenario is, we’d try and start a small avalanche, the avalanche zones connect to one another, we’d end up with a large avalanche and we’d be buying the houses.”

The report recommends the buyout, which would include at least 28 homes, be done in phases, targeting the most at-risk properties first. Mattice says the same Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that paid for the avalanche mitigation report could pay for a buyout.

“At this point in time, the recommendation would be after to approach the residents in area one, determine their level of interest, and after you’ve gained level of interest you could determine fair market value on those properties. Then use that fair market value to form cost-benefit analysis to apply for the grants for that first step,” said Mattice.

The buyout idea has been floated to city officials in the past. And while the assembly did not commit to any course of action, Assemblywoman Karen Crane said she hopes this report will not be ignored.

“I just hope this doesn’t end up another report – we’ve had several along the way – that ends up on the shelf, and that we can find a path to take some action here,” Crane said.

At a minimum, the report recommends mandatory evacuations and road closures when avalanche danger is most severe.

The consultants say Juneau Douglas High School, which is near the bottom of the Behrends path, would not sustain any damage even from the largest possible avalanche.

Link:

WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research Report