Tribal group outlines new strategy for Kuskokwim king salmon

BETHEL — A tribal fishing group for the part of Alaska most dependent on wild salmon is urging a new strategy to manage fishing this year.

The Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is pushing for a conservative approach to ensure healthy numbers of king salmon make it to spawning grounds even if that means less opportunity for fishing.

The group, just entering its second year of formal work with the federal government, is urging the top priority be escapement, or salmon to spawning grounds. Next would be subsistence harvest. And it wants a buffer built into projections to ensure enough salmon spawn and create future years of harvest.

Returns of king salmon have been low for years, leading to shutdowns and federal management of early-season fishing the last three years. When extensive targeted fishing for kings is allowed, some 84,000 king salmon a year are caught for subsistence.

The tribal group wants a decision on who will manage fishing — the state or the federal government — to be made soon and conservative criteria set for spawning and harvest numbers related to the king salmon run. The group, which has its own research biologist, thinks the state projects too-high numbers of returning salmon and allows overcatching. It wants to see the state's 2017 forecast now.

A strategy proposed by the group would put the federal government in charge unless the forecast is for big returns of kings, above 214,450. That is significantly higher than the preliminary estimate of the 2016 chinook run at 186,400 fish.

Residents of the region are still upset over the 2013 season, in which the state allowed targeted fishing for king salmon even though the run turned out to be low.

"In 2013 they apologized," said LaMont Albertson, the interim director of the tribal group and a longtime resident of the region. "Apologies come cheap and that could have been headed off early in the year and we wouldn't have had that disaster. The state doesn't have a very good track record at this point."

The tribal group wants a decision on who will control fishing made now, not as the first salmon are approaching and people are getting fish camps ready, Albertson said.

Federal managers must give rural users a priority, something that the state Department of Fish and Game is barred from doing under the state constitution that gives equal access to all Alaskans.

Aaron Poetter, the state Kuskokwim area management biologist, said the state forecast is still being worked on. The state is missing a fish count from the 2016 season being compiled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it needs to estimate the number of salmon expected to return this year, he said.

"We have seen their proposed management approach," Poetter said of the tribal group. "We are looking at it and discussing it internally."

An early decision on whether the state or federal government will manage the fishery is a good idea, said Ken Stahlnecker, manager of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. Any federal control would be limited to waters within the refuge. The intertribal group and his own staff would help him make decisions on fishing times, locations and gear.

Leaders of a separate state advisory group, the Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group, circulated the tribal commission's proposal. That group, which advises Fish and Game, plans to hold its first meeting of the year later this month.

While most people who fish the Kuskokwim are subsistence users — defined as anyone who has lived in the region for the past year — the established preference in federal law for subsistence remains key, Albertson said.

"We're trying to lead by example by getting this planning info out early," he said.