Juneau watch

The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee tomorrow will consider a special audit request from Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, chair of the House Fisheries Committee.

She's seeking a review of how the Alaska Board of Fisheries has been conducting business of late, saying the board has "lost the public's trust."

Here's the committee agenda. The hearing begins at 8:30 a.m. and will be teleconferenced.

Heads-up on a possible Area M bombshell

Deckboss hears reliably that Alaska's acting attorney general, as soon as tomorrow, will block most or all of the controversial actions the Board of Fisheries took recently on Area M salmon fisheries.

The AG's expected action comes in the context of a lawsuit from commercial fishing groups, the Aleutians East Borough and others seeking to void regulations the board adopted at its February meeting on Alaska Peninsula finfish.

The suit focuses, in part, on board members with alleged conflicts of interest. The plaintiffs say two proposals the board approved on close votes would "dramatically reduce open fishing time and area for commercial purse seine and gillnet gear in the South Alaska Peninsula."

In February, the borough and tribal governments called on the AG to "act on a formal ethics complaint filed against members of the Alaska Board of Fisheries."

Board of Fisheries sued over Area M action

Here's a press release from the Aleutians East Borough.

Another Area M battle

The Alaska Board of Fisheries this week approved changes, including a reduction in commercial fishing time, for the June salmon fishery along the South Alaska Peninsula.

The fishery, also known as the Area M or False Pass fishery, has long been controversial as an "intercept" fishery in which seiners and gillnetters targeting sockeye sometimes catch chum salmon bound for Western Alaska.

Western Alaska is experiencing a salmon crisis, with chum and Chinook runs crashing. That's put enormous public pressure on the Board of Fisheries and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to take action to reduce salmon bycatch in fisheries such as Area M and the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery.

State Sen. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, was among those urging the Board of Fisheries to take action to conserve salmon headed for Western Alaska rivers.

Two commercial fishing groups — Concerned Area M Fishermen and the Area M Seiners Association — opposed language the board ended up passing on a 4-3 vote.

Salmon notes

Here are a few observations from the middle of the salmon season.

• The statewide, all-species catch now stands in excess of 145 million fish. Ongoing pink salmon fisheries appear capable of powering us past the preseason forecast of 189.5 million.

• Trident Seafoods, in a fleet letter dated Aug. 5, reported grim conditions in the salmon markets, including "a sharp decrease in wholesale prices across all species." The Seattle-based processing giant said chum markets had "collapsed," and that the company would stop buying salmon in most areas on or about Sept. 1. Trident further said Russia, with a huge pink salmon harvest this year, had "shown a willingness to offload inventory at very low prices in part to fund the war in Ukraine." Trident added: "We haven't seen a collapse in value like this since the 1990s when pinks went well under 10 cents a pound."

• Have state fish cops confirmed the long-suspected practice of "chum chucking" in Area M? Here's an Alaska Beacon article exploring the issue. And here's a press release from the Area M Seiners Association.

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."

Look out, Area M!

The nonprofit Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association posted the following on Facebook:

A meeting with Governor Dunleavy is scheduled for Monday, August 29, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Leaders from the Bristol Bay, Kuskokwim, Yukon, and Norton Sound regions will be putting forth solutions to the intercept fishery in Area M. This is a closed meeting, but a report will be given during the In-Season teleconference on August 30, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. AKST and 2:00 p.m. PDTC. To listen to the teleconference you can dial in at 1-800-315-6338 pin: 98566#.

Area M seiners stand down to save chums

Purse seiners in Sand Point and King Cove are voluntarily sitting out this week's salmon season opener as a way to avoid intercepting chums possibly bound for Western Alaska rivers.

Here's a press release from the Aleutians East Borough.

We saw the seiners stage a similar goodwill shutdown in 2005 when chums were running too thick in what's known as the Area M or False Pass fishery.

The seiners fear that netting too many chums while chasing their main quarry, sockeye, could result in ruinous fishing restrictions to protect Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim salmon runs.