The Next Board of Fish Meeting Focused on Bristol Bay Will Be in Anchorage

The next Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting focused on Bristol Bay issues will be held in December of 2015. The meeting location is Anchorage but several entities have asked that it be moved to a location in the Bristol Bay region. Last month Dillingham Mayor Alice Ruby sent a letter to the Chairman of the Alaska Board of Fisheries asking the Board to reconsider the location of the 2015 Bristol Bay meeting. Ruby asked that the meeting be held in the Bristol Bay region and she extended an invitation for the Board to hold the meeting in Dillingham. Ruby cited the daily airline service to Dillingham and the cities multiple hotels, B&B’s and restaurants. In her letter Ruby claims that having the meeting in the region assures that residents from throughout the Bristol Bay region will have access to the Board of Fish meeting. She believes that is not the case if the meeting is held in Anchorage. Ruby claims the cost of travel and housing prevents most of the region’s residents from participating in the Board of Fish meeting process if it’s not in the region. The Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation made a similar request to the Board of Fish in a letter sent last month. CEO Norm Van Vactor suggests that when the meetings are held out of the region and in Anchorage the cost of travel and housing completely precludes the vast majority of resident from participating. Van Vactor asked that the 2015 meeting be moved from Anchorage to Dillingham. Additionally, BBEDC is requesting that all Board of Fisheries meetings focused on Bristol Bay be held in the region with the meeting alternating every 3 years between Naknek and Dillingham. The last Board meeting focused on Bristol Bay was held in December of 2012 in Naknek. The meeting was sparsely attended by stakeholders from other areas of Alaska and the lower 48 states but featured a large number of in-region stakeholders who were flown in by entities like BBEDC and the Bristol Bay Native Association. The Alaska Board of Fisheries has an established trend of alternating the Bristol Bay focused meetings between a location in the Bristol Bay region and in Anchorage. The 2012 meeting was held in Naknek but the 209 meeting was held in Anchorage. Late last month Dillingham Mayor Alice Ruby received a response to her request to change the location of the 2015 meeting. The answer was no. Board of Fisheries Executive Director Glenn Haight noted that the Board weighed several factors in making their decision and he confirmed that efforts are already underway to organize the 2015 meeting in Anchorage.