Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Juneau watch

State Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin, has introduced Senate Bill 128 titled "An act temporarily closing the commercial salmon fishery in a portion of the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unraveling of the North American model of wildlife management in the interest of politics. The Alaska Constitution recognizes the need to separate the critical role of direct and sustainable management of Alaska's resources from the vagaries of headline news and politics. This bill suggests that politicians know better than the scientists and managers of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game working together with the diverse members of the Board of Fisheries. Say it isn't so Donny.

Anonymous said...

Politicians in Juneau can't do their jobs! I don't know why they think they can manage fisheries.

Deckboss said...

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled this bill for a hearing on Friday.

Deckboss said...

Here is Sen. Olson's sponsor statement:

https://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=33&docid=15357

Deckboss said...

Opposition to the bill is pouring in from industry and other voices around the state. Here's a sampling:

City of Sand Point
https://www.scribd.com/document/639762066/City-of-Sand-Point

Concerned Area M Fishermen
https://www.scribd.com/document/639762064/Concerned-Area-M-Fishermen

Petersburg Vessel Owner's Association
https://www.scribd.com/document/639762068/Petersburg-Vessel-Owner-s-Association

Westward Seafoods and Alyeska Seafoods
https://www.scribd.com/document/639762063/Westward-Seafoods-and-Alyeska-Seafoods

North Pacific Fisheries Association
https://www.scribd.com/document/639762065/North-Pacific-Fisheries-Association

United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters
https://www.scribd.com/document/639762067/United-Southeast-Alaska-Gillnetters

Anonymous said...

Cmon Sbs and trident pony up some dough and put this to bed.

Anonymous said...

Cmon deckboss, show the support testimony, too, or is there some bias here?

Also, the North American model doesnt fit Alaska, or subsistence, and was another tool to subdue the Native people so the land they had used for tens of thousands of years could be “owned” and they could be herded up into reservations, or, in Alaska, aboriginally extingushed.

Deckboss said...

Here are letters in support of SB 128:

https://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=33&docid=15472

Deckboss said...

A companion bill was introduced today in the House:

https://www.akleg.gov/PDF/33/Bills/HB0180A.PDF

Anonymous said...

Not that many Alaskans care - but people should come to grips with what started all of this. The chairman of the board of fisheries basically told two western ak senators that the board did a horrible thing in trying to balance AYK subsistance with the Area M fishery.

Area M is a very important part of Alaska's commercial fishing industry - which helps support commuter air traffic out west - Ak ferry traffic out west - international fish transportation out west - jobs for about a thousand fishermen and a processing work force out of the lower 48 - and of course many Alaskan based processing facilities. Fuel suppliers - Freight haulers - the list goes on and on.

On the other hand we have hired guns from the AYK totally distorting what the board of fisheries settled on - and ignoring that they are asking to destroy the economy of the area to save a very few fish. Like maybe saving 30k worth of chums while eliminating at least 15 million dollars worth of sockeye which would go away under their "compassionate ideas". It's not "woke and racist" - its "backwards and ignorant."

They don't like the ADFG scientific analysis of the situation -which clearly identified high seas conditions as the reason for low chum returns - and they totally misrepresent the subsistence laws of Alaska - which only give subsistence consideration a priority - not an exclusivity.

We are on the cusp of horrid warfare between indigenous interior folks vs the aleuts - because some people in the interior do not accept that any price might be too great to pay to help subsidize their lives.

As the Alaska dept of law clearly said during the Area M board of fisheries meeting - "Subsistence priority in law does not mean subsistence exclusivity against all other uses,"

It's time to stop being afraid of confronting unsupportable claims of racism and cultural insensitivity.