SECOND NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING AND
PUBLIC COMMENT DEADLINE OF THE
ALASKA BOARD OF FISHERIES
KUSKOKWIM SUBSISTENCE SALMON PANEL
The Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) will convene a meeting of the Kuskokwim Subsistence Salmon Panel (panel) in Bethel at the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center, 420 Chief Eddie Hoffman Highway, Bethel, Alaska, on January 15 and 16, 2015.
Starting at 1:30 pm on January 15, the panel will hear Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports and take public testimony. Tentative signup time for public testimony on January 15 will run from 1:30-2:30 pm.
On January 16, the panel will begin developing potential tools for equitable distribution of the Kuskokwim River subsistence salmon resource throughout the drainage in times of low abundance. It is tentatively set to start at 9:00am. Based on the outcome of this panel meeting, it may hold follow-up meetings.
Panel meetings are open to the public. Meeting agenda will be available at the meeting, and in advance of the meetings at the Bethel Fish and Game Office, 570 4th Avenue and on the Boards Support Section website at:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=kssp.main.
The mission of the panel is to seek public input on how to ensure an equitable distribution of subsistence salmon resources throughout the Kuskokwim River drainage and potential tools for equitable distribution in times of low abundance.
The board enacted the three-member panel at the October 2014 Work Session as it accepted an agenda change request seeking to subdivide the Kuskokwim River king salmon amount reasonably necessary for subsistence by geographic area and allocate Kuskokwim River king salmon subsistence harvest under a Tier II system. The agenda change request is now a proposal that is focused only on potential changes that can be implemented during the 2015 season (gillnet and dipnet gear). The proposal will be before the board for consideration at the March 17–20, 2015 statewide shellfish meeting in Anchorage.
The board has also directed the panel to consider other management solutions to curb adverse impacts on subsistence salmon harvest stemming from king salmon conservation and provide findings to the full board at its next work session, October 21–22, 2015.
Panel members of the board are joined by a cross-section of representatives from Kuskokwim region advisory committees, communities, and groups. For information on members, visit the panel’s website at:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=kssp.main.
The panel is also seeking written comments on potential changes to Kuskokwim River subsistence salmon fishery management. While encouraging all public comment, the panel is seeking to develop specific solutions to address the following aspects of subsistence salmon fisheries management:
- Is there currently an unequitable distribution of harvest opportunities for subsistence salmon along the Kuskokwim River drainage; if so, what options are there to address this?
- What gear modifications will allow subsistence harvest of other salmon, and of non-salmon, during times of low king salmon abundance?
- What options exist for the development and implementation of community subsistence salmon permits, other subsistence salmon permits, or subsistence salmon harvest records?
- What options exist for the development and implementation of a Tier I or Tier II program for king salmon?
Written comments may be mailed to Boards Support Section in Bethel at P.O. Box 1467, Bethel, AK 99559-1467 or in Juneau at P.O. Box 115526, Juneau, AK 99811-5526, emailed to dfg.bof.comments@alaska.gov (PDF only), or faxed to: (907) 465-6094. Written comments are due by January 9, 2015.
If you are a person with a disability who needs a special accommodation to join in any of these public meetings, please contact the Boards Support Section at (907) 465-4110 by 5:00 pm on Friday, January 9, 2015, to make any necessary arrangements.
For more information about the meetings, contact Glenn Haight at (907) 465-6095 or Holly Carroll at (907) 543-1677.
January 5, 2015
Glenn Haight, Executive Director Date
ADF&G Boards Support Section