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The Nushagak Advisory Committee elects new and returning members at committee meeting Wednesday night

Wednesdays Nushagak Advisory Committee meeting agenda
KDLG
Wednesdays Nushagak Advisory Committee meeting agenda

The Nushagak Advisory Committee held an election Wednesday night at the Dillingham City Council, filling three committee seats: the Dillingham designated seat and two alternate seats.

The committee meets two or three times a year to discuss local fish and game management issues. They provide feedback to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which takes the recommendations into consideration when deciding on the management regulations of subsistence and sport hunting and fishing.

It represents communities in the Bristol Bay Unit 17 region, including: Dillingham, Aleknagik, Koliganek, New Stuyahok, Ekwok, and Portage Creek.

The city council chamber was bustling with community members of all ages, in attendance for the election. Attendees living in the represented communities could vote for the alternate seats, but only Dillingham residents could vote for the Dillingham designated seat.

Joseph Chythlook was re-elected to the Dillingham seat, continuing his nearly 50-year involvement with the committee. He is 81 years old and offered to step down to give the seat to the other nominee. But council members weren't having it. They said they understood if he no longer wished to serve on the council but also shared how important he is on the council as an elder and a community leader.

“I’ve been a subsistence fisherman all of my life and a commercial fisherman for 62 years,” said Chythlook. “If you think that I'm still usable I could run again.”

Three candidates were nominated for the two alternate seats: incumbent members Lindsay Layland and Reed Tennyson, as well as Travis Wren.

Layland was re-elected to one of the alternate seats and will continue in her role as the committee's secretary.

Wren, a longtime Dillingham resident and commercial fisherman, was elected to the second alternate seat.

“Over the years, I have been able to do a lot in this area and this community and the surrounding areas,” said Wren, “Everything from guiding to sports fishing, or hunting myself. I feel like I have enough knowledge of the area, and it is so important to protect things for our communities, our surrounding communities, for our area. And that's why I would like to be on the committee.”

In addition to the elections, the members voted on regional and Unit 17-specific Alaska Board of Game proposals. Their recommendations will be taken into consideration at the Alaska Board of Game meeting January 10-17. The public comment period for these proposals is open to the public until December 27th.

Margaret Sutherland is a local reporter and host at KDLG, Dillingham's NPR member station. Margaret graduated from College of Charleston with a degree in English, and went on to attend the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Radio and Podcasting. She is passionate about the power of storytelling and creating rich soundscapes for the listener's ears to enjoy.