Monday, January 6, 2014

Initiative to ban setnets rejected

Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell today rejected a proposed ballot initiative to ban setnets in Cook Inlet and other areas of Alaska.

Treadwell took the action based on a state legal opinion calling the initiative unconstitutional.

More details here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think this comes as much of a surprise, or at least it shouldn't.

I always suspected the whole initiative idea was to just amp up the pressure for this upcoming UCI meeting, as much as anything. If getting rid of the set nets was so vital to sustaining the king run, then why wait until 2016 to try to get it on the ballot? Why not go all out, and get it on the ballot this fall? That never did make much sense.

Anonymous said...

awfully quiet here. maybe all the trolls are hiding out under the bridge, contemplating what to do when the king declares the river a sanctuary.

Anonymous said...

It is just the beginning of the game. The worst thing that could happen to the ESSN just did. An early decision. Eventually the five members of the state supreme court will decide the matter. If you check out their record on deciding whether the administration ( translation: governor / Attorney General/ Dept of law) is generally correct in denying the people of Alaska the right to the initiative process, you will see that the people won every time but once and the initiative proponents eventually did get on the ballot. Treadwell did not make the decision, the Dept. of Law did, after being given its marching orders from the about to be X governor's Attorney General, who got his from the Gov him self. . He was wrong on the oil tax, wrong on allowing a coal mine on the Chuitna, and really really wrong on Pebble, and now wrong on the initiative. As Yogi said: it's not over until the fat lady sings.. If you are an ESSN person, hold onto your hat. the fat lady is about to cry you a river.

Anonymous said...

noun pl. sanctuaries

[saŋk′c̸ho̵̅o̅ er′ē]

A reserved area in which birds and other animals, especially wild animals, are protected from hunting or molestation.

Anonymous said...

January 11, 2014 at 6:00 PM

"It is just the beginning of the game"

Where the heck have you been? You must fresh of the plane. This game has been going on for years. Speaking of games the commercial sport fishing industrial complex needs to quit playing games with the resource. No more catch/release and die. No more oily outboard exhaust in the river and no more fishing on spawners. The fish are in a constant state of harassment in the river from the time they arrive to spawn and when the smolt leave in the spring.

Anonymous said...

3:44. What the guy at 6:00 probably meant is that the initiative still has a very good chance of succeeding. That the Lt. Governor's decision is not the last word. It will eventually be decided by a judge or 5 justices on the supreme ct. And from what he said most times the legal decision goes in favor of the public's right to the initiative process. And this process does nat take a long time like some cases. It will be decided promptly. If i were and ESSN fisherman/ woman, I would be very nervous. Perhaps it is time for all sides to take responsibility. The people that use the river need to slow down their effort, get off the spawners, have another drift only day, teach good catch and release practices, and keep the first King caught regardless of its size. The ESSN people need to come up with a means to reduce their catching power while still being able to fish when there are not enough kings, including one or two nets instead of three, fish nets that are not so deep, fish them in deeper water, come up with a percentage for drop outs, police themselves to prevent any under reporting, and be willing to try dip nets if the alternative is complete closure. Hopefully these competing groups can come together at the BOF meeting. We, the public, are getting a bit tired of the wars and finger pointing.