March 11, 2009
Greetings to All SCBOA Members! The 2009 season will soon be upon us. We have been very busy with the recent Board of Fisheries meeting held in Sitka. Charter operators from all around SE Alaska came to participate and speak with a united voice.
Board of Fisheries Meeting Summary - February 17-26, 2009, Sitka AK
To summarize this meeting, SEAGO, ACA, SCBOA and a small working group of other individuals developed a comprehensive plan to address more than 50 proposals. In addition, we solicited and received unprecedented support from individual guides and lodge owners from across SE Alaska, to make this meeting a success. We gained BOF support on all but one key issue. A more detailed explanation follows:
Background
The 10 day meeting considered more than 250 regulation proposals affecting Southeast and Yakutat finfish.
• Various commercial fishing, Native, and sport fishing groups, in addition to ADF&G staff, were represented. It was estimated that more than 250 people attended this meeting!
• A full day was devoted to ADF&G staff reports, and in general, all fish stocks targeted by sport anglers are rated healthy. More information can be found at: http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/fishinfo/meetinfo/2008-2009/deprep08-09.php
• More information about the meeting and proposals considered can be found here: http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/fishinfo/meetinfo/fcal.php .
Key Meeting Accomplishments
• SEAGO working with the full cooperation of other sport fishing organizations and individual guides and lodge owners, prepared a consensus position statement on 53 different proposals and delivered it to the BOF. Particular recognition goes to John Blair, of SEAGO, Richard Yamada, of ACA, Rick Bierman, of JCBOA, Stan Malcom, SEAGO board member, Seth Bone, Tom Ohaus and Theresa Weiser.
• Special efforts were taken to coordinate a consistent message from the 42 individuals representing the charter sector during public testimony. Daily war-room meetings were held to strategize and respond to issues and/or modify plans and testimony, as required. With more than 206 people signed up to testify, we fortunately, had enough individuals speaking on behalf of the charter industry, to more than balance the other groups working against our interests.
• We successfully coordinated solid representation on critical Working Committees, including the King Salmon Management Plan, the Sport Fisheries Committee, and the Ground Fish Committee. In addition, we made sure we had a presence on all other committees.
• SEAGO and SCBOA successfully co-hosted a cocktail reception on Saturday evening, with approximately 40-50 people attending, including all but one of the BOF Commissioners. It was a great opportunity to build one-on-one rapport with Board members.
• Finally, the importance of being present, to insure our interests were represented, until the final gavel fell concluding final deliberation and adjourning the meeting, proved to be crucial.
Key Results are as follows:
• No change to king salmon allocations or bag limits. We were successful in modifying emergency order changes to substitute the 48 inch rule, with a more reasonable plan of a one king annual, over 28 inches in July and August, when the Abundance Index is 1.0 to 1.15.
• No general bag, possession, size, or annual limits to be imposed on nonresident anglers with the exception of black cod.
o One proposal was modified to establish limits for black cod and we ended up with a 12 annual limit. The BOF asked ADF&G to begin to collect data so there will be some scientific basis going forward in 3 yrs – hopefully then we can argue for a better outcome. In the last minutes of the BOF meeting, after two BOF members walked out, this came back for reconsideration and ended up being modified down to a 2 daily bag limit, 4 possession limit and 8 annual limit!
• No nonresident coho annual limits or additional harvest reporting requirements were passed.
• No redefinition of fish possession limits, which would have severely affected our clients.
• No free and unobstructed access to all charter fishing lodges or freezer facilities, by law enforcement.
• Sport fish allocation increase of demersal shelf rockfish (DSR) by-catch was not approved. This is significant because it would have reduced the possibility of a general closure in the event that excess DSR were caught when fishing for other species. Our DSR allocation has been exceeded in two of the last three years. Sport Fish Division said they would have to see an upward trend before issuing time and area closures.
o Approval was received to have additional slot for catching one lingcod in excess of 55 inches per year; OR the other slot is 30 to 35 inches.
o No additional restrictions on personal use of charter boats.
o No requirement for barbless hooks, or catch and release requirements.
o No change in definitions of sport gear, however a specific proposal for electric reels was deferred and will be heard at statewide finfish meeting March 2010. We will have Area 3A and ACA now weighing in on this issue. Deadline for proposals for the Statewide BOF Meeting is April 3, 2009.
o No increase restrictions on guided sport fishing around hatchery terminal areas.
o No fish ticket system to monitor in-season harvest by guided sport fishery.
• Several other proposals were not approved:
o Dogfish limits were not liberalized.
o A proposal to ban felt soles in streams passed starting in 2011.
o There was no action taken on decompression/recompression devices for rockfish.
I would like to thank all of you that came to the BOF meeting, and especially those that testified. It is not an easy thing to do, but it makes a big difference! We know we will have to be back in March 2010, to confront restrictive proposals again, addressing possession limits, annual limits and electric reels.
We can feel good about the results of our participation at this BOF meeting. When it concluded, the BOF had denied nearly every adverse proposal against guided sport fishing. In a couple instances, we didn’t care for the results, but we avoided many truly harmful proposals and for the most part, emerged either unscathed or better off than before.
We hope you continue to support SCBOA with your dues for 2009, as we continue to represent the charter industry, on the forefront. We need your participation now, more than ever. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Theresa Weiser
President
Sitka Charter Boat Operators Association
