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BOF Bristol Bay Finfish: Here’s how each proposal fared

Avery Lill/KDLG

The Alaska Board of Fisheries considered 47 proposals at the Bristol Bay Finfish meeting in Dillingham last week. The board passed 12.

You can find audio of the meeting here and proposals here

Subsistence Proposals:

  • Proposal 18: allow users to subsistence fish for salmon near Dillingham at any time – PASSED 6-1 with proposed language as amended RC55 with RC54
     
  • Proposal 19: allow subsistence fishing near Dillingham with dip nets – PASSED 5-2 with proposed language from RC36
     
  • Proposal 20: allow the use of drift nets for subsistence fishing in the Wood and Nushagak Rivers near Dillingham – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 21: allow subsistence fishing with hook and line attached to rod or pole in Six Mile Lake – no action
     
  • Proposal 22: allow subsistence fishing for salmon in the Egegik District at any time – failed 3-4

Permit Stacking:

  • Proposal 23: clarify that the holder of two drift gillnet limited entry permits may operate up to 150 fathoms of drift gillnet gear – failed 1-5
     
  • Proposal 24: allow the holder of two set gillnet or two drift gillnet limited entry permits to operate more gear than the holder of a single limited entry permit – failed 0-5
     
  • Proposal 25: allow an individual holding two drift gillnet limited entry permits to operate up to 200 fathoms of drift gillnet gear – failed 0-5
     
  • Proposal 26: allow the owner of two drift gillnet limited entry permits to operate 200 fathoms of drift gillnet gear from a single vessel – no action
     
  • Proposal 27: allow the holder of two set gillnet limited entry permits in the Naknek-Kvichak, Egegik and Ugashik districts to operate 100 fathoms of set gillnet gear – failed 0-7

New Fishery:

  • Proposal 28: allow commercial fishing for salmon, with set net gear only, within the section of the Kvichak River that borders Levelock Village land – failed 2-5

Gear Specification:

  • Proposal 29: establish mesh size restrictions for the conservation of king salmon in the Naknek-Kvichak and Ugashik Districts (5 and one-half inches from June 1 through July 22) d PASSED 7-0

Vessel Specification:

  • Proposal 30: increase the maximum length for drift vessels from 32 feet in overall length to 42 feet in overall length – failed 1-6

Vessel Registration:

  • Proposal 31: delay implementation of the 48-hour district transfer notification period until the third Saturday in June – failed 0-7

Commercial Fishing Periods:

  • Proposal 32: extend duration of late-season fishing periods in the Naknek-Kvichak, Egegik and Ugashik District – PASSED 4-3 with language from RC73

Gear:

  • Proposal 33: allow the use of beach weirs in commercial salmon fishing in Bristol Bay – no action

Closed Waters:

  • Proposal 34: reduce closed waters in the Naknek-Kvichak District - PASSED 7-0 with language from  RC76
     
  • Proposal 35: reduce closed waters in the Naknek-Kvichak District near Graveyard Creek – no action

Alagnak River Special Harvest Area:

  • Proposal 36: repeal conditions that must be met prior to allowing commercial fishing for salmon in the Alagnak River Special Harvest Area – PASSED 7-0 with language from RC59
     

Naknek-Kvichak District Sockeye Salmon Fisheries Management and Allocation Plan:

  • Proposal 37: manage the Naknek and Kvichak sections independent of one another based on the harvestable surplus within each section and establish section-specific harvest allocation criteria so that 84 percent of each section’s harvest is allowcated to the drift gillnet fleet and 16 percent of the section’s harvest is allocated to the set gillnet fleet – failed 0-5

Wood River Special Harvest Area:

  • Proposal 38: repeal provisions to open the Wood River Special Harvest Area when the escapement of sockeye salmon into the Wood River exceeds 1,100,000 fish and the escapement is projected to exceed 1,400,000 – failed 0-5
     
  • Proposal 39: open the Wood River Special Harvest Area to both set and drift gillnet gear after July 17 —failed 1-5
     
  • Proposal 40: establish a drawing system for use of the four furthest downriver set gillnet sites in the Wood River Special Harvest Area – PASSED 7-0 with ammended language, which does not set up a lottery. Rather it modifies the distance between sites fishing the WRSHA from 150 to 250 feet.

Sockeye Salmon Special Harvest Areas in Bristol Bay:

  • Proposal 174: clarify Bristol Bay sockeye salmon special harvest areas and clarify board intent regarding set gillnet specifications and operations with the SHA management plans – PASSED with language from RC70

Nushagak-Mulchatna King Salmon Management Plan:

  • Proposal 41: reduce fishing time in the Nushagak District commercial salmon fishery when the Nushagak River sport fishery is restricted for king salmon conservation – PASSED 5-0 with language from RC51, which does not reduce fishing time for the commercial salmon fishery. Rather, it repeals specific restrictive actions on the sport fishing industry in the Nushagak-Mulchatna King Salmon Management Plan.  

Pacific Herring:

  • Proposal 42: reduce fishing time in the Nushagak District commercial salmon fishery when the Nushagak River sport fishery is restricted for king salmon conservation – no action
     
  • Proposal 43: establish subdistricts in the Nushagak District – failed 0-5
     
  • Proposal 44: allow any remaining unharvested Togiak District herring spawn-on-kelp allocation to be reallocated to the Togiak District sac roe herring fishery – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 45: allow unharvested Togiak District sac roe gillnet allocation to be reallocated to the Dutch Harbor food and bait herring fishery – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 46: increase the amount of harvestable surplus Togiak herring allocated to the purse seine fleet from 70 percent to 88 percent – PASSED 5-2 with language from RC82 that allocates 20 percent of the surplus to the gillnet fleet and 80 percent to the purse seine fleet until Dec. 31, 2021.

Sport Fishing:

  • Proposal 47: adopt the Southwest Alaska Rainbow Trout Management Plan into regulation – failed 2-5
     
  • Proposal 48: modify the sport fishing season in the Naknek River drainage by extending the spawning closure from April 8 to April 1. –failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 49: prohibit retention of rainbow trout by nonresident sport anglers in a portion of the Naknek River drainage – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 50: prohibit guiding on the Naknek River drainage during spring from the marker at Lake Camp downstream to the marker at Rapids Camp – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 51: establish a limited guide permit system between Sept. 10 and Oct. 20 in a portion of the Naknek River – no action, withdrawn by author in RC56
     
  • Proposal 52: limit the number of clients a sport fishing guide or sport fishing guide business may have while targeting trout in a portion of the Nakenk River drainage – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 53: establish guide permits in a section of the Naknek River drainage – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 54: limit the hours guides or clients can fish on a section of the Naknek River – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 55: limit the days guides or clients can fish on a section of the Naknek River – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 56: prohibit chumming by guides and other commercial users in portions of the Naknek River drainage sport fishery – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 57: prohibit the use of certain sport fishing tackle in a section of the Naknek River drainage – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 58: close sport fishing for king salmon in a portion of the Naknek River drainage—PASSED 7-0 with language from RC71
     
  • Proposal 59: close waters to king salmon sport fishing in section of the Naknek River drainage – no action
     
  • Proposal 60: create a rod limit for nonresident anglers sport fishing for salmon on a portion of the Naknek River – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 61: prohibit blocking access to sport fishing locations in the Naknek River – failed 2-5
     
  • Proposal 62: all sport-caught fish removed from the water in all freshwater drainages of the Bristol Bay Area must be retained – failed 0-7
     
  • Proposal 175: align regulations for sport fishing services and sport fishing guide services in fresh and salt waters and update guide registration and reporting regulations – PASSED 7-0 with substitute language RC50

    Correction: This story story previously stated that the board took no action on proposal 34, and the vote count for proposal 61 was incorrectly stated to be 0-7. The explanation of proposition 40 has also been updated.