The number of king salmon returning to the Deshka this year was just over 3,000 fish. The number has been declining for years to a paltry number this year that is not large enough for the species to sustain itself at that level. The obvious question is why? Ask biologists at the Department of Fish and Game and they blame “global warming” as the go-to excuse.
From my recent trips to my cabin at the mouth of the Deshka and Susitna rivers, I note that the size of the kings is also much smaller there, as well as the Kenai River. King salmon and bull moose are the poster sponsors for tourism in the state. That there are very few kings left at the headwaters of Cook Inlet is a tragedy for the state and those of us who live here.
For years, under the Walker administration, with the commercial fishermen dominating the fish board, commercial fishermen have been allowed to catch excessive numbers of kings in the Inlet, not allowing them to get to the spawning grounds. Thus, we didn’t get the escapement needed to proliferate kings and silvers.
There are very few spawners in not just the Deshka but all other rivers in upper Cook Inlet. I don’t have a master’s degree in fish management, but I know that the fish have to be allowed to get back to spawning grounds, not intercepted with the proliferation of bycatch by commercial fishermen in the ocean and over-harvesting in Cook Inlet.
Now what? Gov. Mike Dunleavy just vetoed funding for oversight of the bycatch, which doesn’t make sense. The people of Alaska must hold fish managers accountable. We are at a crisis level for returning fish to the spawning grounds. That hurts the local economy and the large number of people who get their livelihoods from salmon fishing, to give away our fish to commercial fishermen who live out of the state.
If the governor will not stand up for us, the next one must or the resource will be lost for our grandchildren. We must demand accountability from biologists and fish board members. The decline of king salmon can be remedied but must be rectified before it is too late.
—Jack Olive
Anchorage
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