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State considering Chignik request for management change

Hannah Colton/KDLG

Chignik fishermen are asking for a change in management, but the state says the budget could make it difficult.

Chignik fishermen have petitioned the Governor to switch their management from the westward region to the central region, citing concerns about regional fishing opportunity as well as the health of local sockeye stocks.  KDLG's Molly Dischner reports.

In September, 235 Chignik fishermen and residents sent petition to Alaska Gov. Bill Walker requesting that he move the area’s fisheries management from Fish and Game’s westward region, and asking for a meeting regarding their concerns.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is helping the governor review the request, and in an Oct. 2 letter, then-acting director of commercial fisheries Forrest Bowers said the department was willing to sit down with folks, although the state’s budget concerns could make it difficult to undertake any restructuring.

Lake and Peninsula Borough Fisheries Advisor Chuck McCallum said he had a meeting planned with Cotten and representatives from Chignik communities scheduled for Oct. 23.

Although the fishermen directed their petition to the governor, in September ADFG Commissioner Sam Cotten said his department was working on the request to help the governor. Cotten said the department planned to walk through the concerns with area residents and fishermen.

“Maybe we can both get a better understanding of what has happened and what suggestions might be on the table, including this,” Cotten said. “Nobody’s ruling this out, but it does seem like there might be some potential budget issues, it’s convenience to have Chignik in with Area M and Kodiak, but we understand their concerns.”

The petition refers to concerns both about lost harvest opportunity for pinks and chums, and the health of the sockeye stock when it is being caught in intercept fisheries outside of the region.

Chignik Lagoon Village Council President Clem Grunert said there are several concerns at play. Healthy fisheries populations are important to fishermen in the region, but so is fishing opportunity, Grunert said. He and others are concerned that current management might be taking its toll on both.

“This community depends quite a bit on fish, and not only that, it’s a loss to the state as far as revenue. It’s a loss to the borough, and it’s a loss to the city of Chignik when there’s no fish being caught and they’re going up river.”

In a good year, Grunert said the communities and borough get revenue from a fish tax, and fishermen themselves make an income too. This year, fishing ended earlier than it has in the past, with low prices and a total catch below what was hoped.

The petition notes that five communities – Chignik, Chignik Bay, Chignik Lagoon, Perryville and Ivanof Bay – are all dependent on the Chignik fishery.

There’s a sense that right now, fishermen outside of the region are intercepting more of Chignik’s salmon than is necessary. This year, Grunert said the summer’s sockeye catch was lower than hoped, in part because the cannery shut down early. But he said it could also be partially because fishermen farther down the chain were catching the sockeye before they made it back to Chignik. In other years, those catches could harm the stock, he said.

But in his letter, Bowers noted that escapement goals in the area have consistently been met, and there are no stocks of concern in the management area.

Grunert said the concerns could partially be a consequence of westward region management, which includes intercept fisheries. Moving Chignik out of that region could emphasize that it’s a terminal fishery, and ensure that its Chignik fishermen who get an opportunity to catch Chignik fish.

“I mean, give us a break,” Grunert said. “We’re kind of right in between two intercept fisheries and we’d like it a little bit more neutral.”

Grunert noted that the Chignik area doesn’t have any ties to Kodiak, where management is currently based.

“We’re not in the Kodiak Borough. Everything that we have is all either through Bristol Bay Native Corp. or BBNA or the borough, Lake and Peninsula Borough. And our Fish and Wildlife is out of King Salmon.”

But the reason management is currently based in Kodiak is that the Chignik Management Area is part of Fish and Game’s westward region, which also includes Kodiak, the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula management areas. Bowers wrote that the current structure maximizes efficiencies.

Moving the management area to the Anchorage-based central region would likely increase the costs associated with management, including operating a weir and summer office there, Bowers wrote, noting that the department faced a budget cut last year and is anticipating another.

“(Division of Commercial Fisheries) has reduced or eliminated programs and personnel to meet these budget constraints, and does not have the ability to restructure CMA in a way that will increase operating costs in the current fiscal climate,” he wrote.

Chignik Fishermen United, the Lake and Peninsula Borough and the Chignik Lagoon Native Corporation have all supported the petition to shift management there, as have other entities and individuals.