Early Run Kenai River Chinook Salmon Management

Managing for a 'stable and predictable opportunity' for fishermen delegates 'conservation' to the back seat.

ADF&G sport fish division (dept) has taken it upon themselves to consider 'opportunity' to catch a fish and managing for 'stable and predictable' as a priority for management goals. This seems innoculous on the surface but when one considers that to accomplish managing for a "stable and predictable opportunity" the dept enters into a deal with the devil leading to compromising 'conservation' interests.

Placing the early main stem Kenai River chinook spawning populations at risk is very mystifying in that the department appears willing to gamble with the resource here. They should be taking a conservative stance and making a maximum effort to gather enough knowledge to be certain that the methods they apply will be successful. I really believe that the politics of the department leadership has clouded their minds and confused their priorities.

The dept has with proposed and unproven catch and release managment methods placed the resource at 'risk' in order to provide 'stable and predictable opportunity' for anglers. Most worrisome is the dept is depending upon the public's perception of successful catch and release management of trout and other indigenous species to sustain their poorly thought out and not scientifically supported salmon management. Catch and release of salmon may very well not be possible using the methods the dept proposes.

Please think very carefully before blindly following the depts lead on this, read the reports that are accessible at this site. Their motives are suspect. Make up your own mind. Then tell them what you think.

The following information is made available for the public's information and enlightenment. If this is as alarming to you as it is to the author contact the Alaska Board of Fisheries and make your feelings about this important issue known to them. They make the final decisions but can only do so if they have all the data.

Dennis H. Randa

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The above documents reference Alaska Department of Fish and Game data bases which are available at:

http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/statewide/divreports/html/advSearch.cfm

Once at the search site just type in the author's name and look for document reference.

The state's sport fish division's strategic plan can be seen at:

http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/statewide/stratplan/html/psphome.htm

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service documents are available from the Fisheries Service offices in Anchorage and Soldotna, cite author and paper.

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