Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, July 30, 2015

Changes long overdue on dipnetting boat regulations

In his July 22 letter to the editor, Marv Greene was right in his assessment of the dangers of dipnetting from a boat on the Kenai River. More and more Alaskans are dipnetting every year. My friends and I have been dipnetting the Kenai River since the inception of that personal-use fishery. We have seen the fishery evolve from merely chaotic to deadly dangerous. Allowing boats of all sizes and horsepower to dipnet the Kenai River is a bad idea and it is getting worse as the numbers increase. Large jet-powered boats have no business in this fishery. They cannot maneuver well at slow speed and are a menace to all smaller boats. Larger boats, especially inboard jets, also throw bigger wakes, causing unsafe boating conditions and increased bank erosion. A 50-horsepower limit for all noncommercial boats below the Warren Ames Bridge makes sense. As Mr. Greene suggested, it would be a quick, easy and practical way to decrease the likelihood of a boating disaster on the Kenai. It is long past time to amend the Alaska State Parks boating regulations for this valuable, but dangerous, fishery.

— Oz Arundell

Soldotna

Fish and Game needs to represent all Alaskans

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game elected to open the Aug. 10 wolf hunts adjacent to Denali National Park despite requests to effect an emergency closure, thus continuing to threaten the viability of diminished and diminishing park wolf-family groups whose members include breeding females that stray beyond the protection of the park's east boundary and are killed by trappers and hunters.

It is time to ask Commissioner Sam Cotten to become the commissioner for ALL Alaskans, including the 700,000 who do not hold trapping or hunting licenses, not the small fraction of our population that do who essentially dictate such wrong public policy. We are all stakeholders in Alaska's wonderful wildlife legacy.

— Jim Kowalsky

ADVERTISEMENT

Alaskans for Wildlife

Fairbanks

The harvest is in all of us

After reading the "The pros, cons and costs of stocking up on Alaska Salmon" in ADN on Sunday I was entertained that it takes researchers and a special program, "The Salmon Project," to figure out that harvesting of salmon is simply part of the culture of all Alaskans. It doesn't matter if you just moved here from New York or your ancestors have been here for 50, 100, or thousands of years. Mankind will honor and harvest the bounty of the land. It's in our DNA.

The whole world is a "… land that has always been," whether you harvest walleye in the Midwest, catfish in Louisiana, or salmon in Alaska in a sustainable manner. These are our inalienable rights. Filling our freezers for the winter is a blessing to be shared by all.

— Linda Compton

Wasilla

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.

ADVERTISEMENT