Chinook Conservation, Trawling and Permit-Stacking Addressed by BoF

Jay Barrett/KMXT
The Alaska Board of Fisheries wrapped up its Kodiak area meetings on Friday afternoon at the Harbor Convention Center. KMXT’s Jay Barrett spoke with board Chairman Karl Johnstone about some of the decisions that came out of the meeting, and how the meeting schedule may change in the future.
Johnstone cited the closure of trawling in the Shelikof Strait as one of the biggest decisions the board made, as well as turning down a proposal to reinstate permit stacking for setnetters in the district.
Another decision affecting local fishermen is the requirement for salmon seiners to toss back any king salmon from their nets before July 6th. The board hopes that move would help chinook populations from dwindling even further. Last year Kodiak seiners caught about 30,000 kings while targeting sockeye and pink salmon.
After a quick four days in Kodiak, the Fish Board is now facing at least three weeks of meetings in Anchorage addressing Upper Cook Inlet finfish, which largely revolves around the most contentious allocation battle in the state, between commercial fishermen and the sportsfishing industry on the Kenai River.