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In this Newsletter
While our results are great, they aren’t free. And now is the time to write your annual membership check. So you know exactly what we are doing for you we have prepared a 2009 plan and identified nine key initiatives to advance your interests. A summary of recent accomplishments and our 2009 plan can be viewed here. We need your financial support to continue to be a strong voice for you. In recognition of the difficult economy, we have lowered our fees and created a flexible payment program for 2009. For charter fishing to survive and continue to make major contributions to the coastal communities of Alaska we need a well-funded organization and professional representation. Your participation is crucial to our continued success. Please click here now to join or to renew your membership. Finally, we want offer our sincere thanks for your continued support of our organization.
At both the December Petersburg and the February Sitka meetings the Board of Fisheries failed to shield against conflicts of interest and conducted some its business outside of the rules. Some of these actions resulted in arbitrary establishment of Dungeness crab limits, and a devious end-play to establish black cod limits with no basis in fact or science. We strongly spoke out against this bias in a letter to Governor Palin and BOF Chairman Jensen and through additional follow up at the March BOF meeting in Anchorage. Some positive changes were evident at the Anchorage meeting but this situation, in our view, remains open. We will continue to call out for ethical and transparent proceedings. Look for more on this issue in future newsletters.
An unfortunate outcome of the February BOF meeting in Sitka was establishment of black cod bag limits based on a very flawed process and with no basis in fact or science. We spoke out on behalf of the emergency petition to correct this inequity at the March BOF meeting in Anchorage. Although the board did not approve the emergency request, a Board-generated-proposal was submitted by others and will be voted upon on April 28, 2009. You can weigh in with support for this initiative with your letters before April 27. The legal notice is here. Special thanks go out to Larry Edfelt for his leadership and guidance in this effort.
Last year the Governor appointed retired Judge Karl Johnstone of Anchorage to fill out a vacancy on the Board of Fisheries. Since then we have seen Johnstone—a sport and former commercial fisherman—take extraordinary effort to be well prepared, to solicit information from public testimony and committee work, and to provide a fair and balanced approach in his decision making. SEAGO supported Mr. Johnstone’s candidacy for a three-year term starting this July with both written and verbal testimony at a March legislative hearing.
The deadline for proposals for the next round of BOF meetings is April 10, 2009. Click here for the notice. If you have an idea for a proposal, we can assist. Please contact John Blair.
SEAGO Supports Charter Halibut Task Force Efforts As the National Marine Fisheries Service presses ahead with its proposed “one halibut per day” rule, SEAGO continues to work with the Charter Halibut Task Force to resist it. We expect NMFS to publish the rule by the end of April, to go into effect June 1. (It appears the bag limit for May, no matter what, will be two per day with one under 32 inches.) Although NMFS is required to respond to all letters on the proposal, CHTF has not yet received a reply to their letter. Once a rule is published, CHTF will review the rule to see whether their comments have been addressed and will make a decision as to whether to sue. Does this seem like the movie Groundhog Day? This is about exactly where we were last year. As you know, CHTF’s lawsuit last year put a hold on implementation of the 1 per day bag rule. Now CHTF is fund-raising to overturn it again. The Charter Halibut Task Force (CHTF) has been concentrating its efforts on educating charter operators to the perilous threat this new rule would be to them and their businesses. They have just sent out letters to 800 charter operators, asking to pledge financial support for a potential lawsuit to stop this new rule. Richard Yamada is the point of contact for this effort. He can be reached at richard@alaskareel.com if you have any questions.
ADF&G Announces King Salmon Abundance Index As SEAGO announced on March 31, the ADF&G said that the abundance index for SE Alaska in 2009 is 1.33. The all gear quota is 218,800 fish. The king salmon management plan dictates that when the abundance index is greater than 1.2 and less than or equal to 1.5 the commissioner SHALL implement the following measures:
SEAGO Supports Continuation of the Guide Logbook Program Financial support for the sport fishing guide logbook program is scheduled to sunset in 2009. This program is one of the best tools that ADF&G has to identify who is involved in the charter/lodge industry and provides important data used to establish levels of harvest, effort, identification of clients, as well as species targeted. The money collected is used for issuing licenses and for sport fishing logbook data collection and reporting expenses. We supported extension of the current law with the fees at their levels as originally passed in 2004 in written testimony to Rep. Bryce Edgmon, Chairman, House Fisheries Special Committee.
John Blair, a highly experienced executive and entrepreneur who is also a steelhead fanatic and a long-time sport fishing advocate is SEAGO’s new Executive Director. Check out his bio and contact info on the SEAGO website. John will bring SEAGO lots of organizational savvy and attention, along with his commitment to a successful and sustainable charter fishing industry in Southeast Alaska. Welcome, John!
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