BOF Rejects Subsistence Transport Ban, Trawl Standards, and PWS Hatchery Limits

The Alaska Board of FIsheries met March 17-21 in Anchorage to review proposals related to “statewide finfish and supplemental issues.” 

Two proposals submitted by the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission (AITRC) regarding the Copper River fisheries were not approved. 

Proposal 175 would have reduced the maximum allowable mesh size for dipnets used in statewide dipnet fisheries from 4.5 inches to 3.5 inches. It also would have prohibited “the addition of a rope attached to the handle and boat to extend the reach of the dip net into the water beyond the length of the rigid handle.”  

Proposal 162 would have prohibited “commercial transport services in subsistence fisheries.”

Three proposals that would have either reduced, or prohibited the increase, of hatchery production in Prince William Sound : 170, 171, and 172, were also not approved by the Board. 

The board took “no action” on three proposals submitted by the Alaska Healthy Habitat Alliance, a group that includes several Alaskan small boat fishermen’s associations. The proposals would have “define[d] all trawl gear operated inside state waters as non-pelagic and develop[ed] new performance and monitoring standards,” “establish[ed] bottom contact monitoring requirements for pelagic trawl gear operated inside state waters,” and “establish[ed] salmon excluder requirements for all pelagic trawl gear operated inside state waters.” 

The board deferred a proposal to close “state waters to commercial groundfish fishing with trawl gear west of 170° W. longitude” submitted by the F/V Alaska Trojan to the Alaska Peninsula/Aleutian Islands/Chignik meeting. 

Several other proposals were considered, which can be found on the ADF&G website. 

Meeting audio, with a table of contents identifying testimony, deliberations, and each proposal considered, is available on the Meeting Information Page.