Petersburg and Ketchikan Will Host Upcoming Alaska Board of Fisheries Meetings

The Alaska Board of Fisheries will meet Jan. 15-21 at the Sons of Norway facilities in Petersburg on proposals involving Southeast and Yakutat crab, shrimp and miscellaneous shellfish, including Dungeness, king and tanner crab. Then from Feb. 24 to March 4, the Board of Fisheries will be at the Ted Ferry Civic Center in Ketchikan for action on proposals offered on Southeast and Yakutat finfish, including salmon, herring and groundfish.

The proposal package for Petersburg includes several dozen items on related to topics ranging from revising the Southeast red king crab management plan and revising the management plan for Southeast pot shrimp fisheries to a variable harvest strategy for sea cucumbers, and harvest strategies for geoducks.

Nearly 150 proposals will be up for consideration at the Ketchikan session, on Southeast groundfish, Southeast herring, Southeast commercial salmon management, allocation plans, special harvest areas and terminal harvest areas, as well as sport, subsistence and personal use issues. Proposal 285 would repeal the 58-foot vessel limit in the Southeast salmon purse seine fishery in combination with a form of permit reduction to reduce capacity and enhance the value of the fishery. The proposal from Eric Rosvold and Ryan Kapp, argues that the board’s adoption of excluding the “bulbous bow” from the length measure of a salmon purse seine vessel was progress. “It should now repeal the 58-foot limit on the length of vessel in the salmon purse seine fishery coupled with an additional permit requirement to address the problem of potential excesses capacity within the Southeast salmon seine fishery,” they said. Their proposal also suggests that existing 58-foot vessels could be lengthened on the stern for better flotation so aft holds could produce fish with better quality. Another proposal, from Larry Demmert, would increase the length limit for Southeast salmon seiners to 75 feet, to allow more room for custom processing, fresh packaging or freezing on board.