Area M Board of Fisheries Meeting: February 20–25, 2023

Area M Board of Fisheries Meeting: February 20–25, 2023

Photo by Jaylene Andrew.

One month from today, the Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF) will begin its Alaska Peninsula / Aleutian Island / Chignik Finfish (Area M) meeting.

The BOF will meet February 20–25, 2023 at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. The meeting will also be streamed online for view-only participants. This is a public meeting with opportunity for testimony in-person only.

ADF&G and BOF are still releasing information for this meeting. As of February 10, here are some key pieces of information. We will update this page as more information becomes available, or you can go directly to the BOF meeting webpage here.

KEY DATES

FEBRUARY 6 @ 11:59 PM AKT (UPDATED DATE!): Deadline to submit written comments online.

DURING THE MEETING: Opportunity to submit record copy written comments (10 one-sided or 5 double-sided pages only). Link not yet available.

DURING THE MEETING: Opportunity for in-person public testimony. Public members have 3 minutes to testify. Advisory Committee and Regional Advisory Council representatives have 10 minutes to testify.

DURING THE MEETING: Watch the BOF meeting online (view-only).

KEY BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Chum salmon that spawn in Coastal Western Alaska (CWAK) rivers, including the Kuskokwim, pass through the South Alaska Peninsula or Area M commercial fishing district as they migrate home to spawn. The South Alaska Peninsula June fishery targets these chum salmon and other salmon as they pass through; it is an entirely intercept fishery, with no terminal spawning rivers in that area. Historical salmon genetic data has shown that, on average, 57% of all the chum salmon harvested commercially in June in Area M are of CWAK origin. A new genetics analysis of the 2022 commercial chum salmon harvest shows this average is 18%, showing a significant decline in abundance of CWAK chum salmon not just in our Western Alaska rivers, but throughout their migratory range.

The Area M salmon fishery is one of the only fisheries in the State of Alaska that is solely managed by the Board of Fisheries’ management plan, which it reviews every 3 years, without any consideration of in-season data. All openers, windows, species catch limits, and closures are written into the salmon management plan, which becomes the plan for the season, despite any in-season indicators that show low or high returns. The current South Alaska Peninsula June salmon fishery management plan was adopted in 2004 – long before the current record-low chum returns we are seeing on our Western Alaska rivers. It is time for this management plan to become more conservative, precautionary, and protective of the sustainability of CWAK salmon so that we do everything we can to avoid more cumulative negative affects to CWAK chum salmon, their spawner escapement, and subsistence users’ food security and ways of life.

KRITFC, along with many other Tribal and non-Tribal entities throughout the state, are supporting Proposal 140, which would redesign the South Unimak and Shumagin Islands June salmon management plan to help protect CWAK chum salmon as they pass through Area M and reduce commercial intercept of these chums. The goal of this proposal is to find a way to share the burden of conservation so we can save CWAK chum salmon, meet our escapement goals, and get food back to our subsistence fishermen.

For a deeper look at Proposal 140, listen to February 3’s Coffee @ KYUK interview with Gale Vick, the Chair of the Fairbanks Advisory Committee's Fisheries Subcommittee, which authored the proposal: https://www.kyuk.org/podcast/coffee-at-kyuk.

key meeting information

Here are links with important information. We will update this list as more information becomes available:

For more information on the meeting, contact Boards Support at 907-465-4110.