The future of wild salmon depends on the decisions Alaskans make today

The future of wild salmon depends on the decisions Alaskans make today

By: Steve Harrison

This rowdy crew is know to "take care of business" on fishing days.

     Our state is home to the world’s last stronghold of wild salmon and, for the most part, we have managed our fisheries well. For generations Alaskans have sustainably harvested millions of wild salmon while this amazing fish continues to return to their native streams, spawn and rejuvenate the population every year. 

     Tasked with developing policies that protect our salmon resource, the Alaska Board of Fisheries uses the basic principles of sustainable yield and conservative management to drive decision making and, by and large, it has worked. 

     But managing the harvest of salmon is only part of the equation. Ensuring our salmon runs remain strong also means protecting the habitat they depend on, from the wetlands at the headwaters of the streams where they spawn, all the way to the ocean where they spend the majority of their lives.    

     In recent years, pressure to allow mining and damming interests to set up shop in and around our prolific salmon streams has increased greatly, with proposed projects like the Pebble Mine, Susitna dam, and the Chuitna Coal strip mine leading the charge.  

     One by one, developments much smaller than these have destroyed salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest. Attempts to replace the runs with hatchery fish have proven expensive and largely ineffective. It has been estimated that salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest are dwindling to roughly 6-7% of their historical levels. There is no question - poorly planned dams and mines kill salmon.

     If we sit back and do nothing in Alaska, then the outcome is clear: We are next in line to lose our salmon.

     I have been a Northern District setnet fisherman in Upper Cook Inlet for 36 years and, like hundreds of thousands of other Alaskans, have a vested interest in the sustainability of wild salmon. As setnetters we are held to a detailed set of rules and regulations. The Cook Inlet Area Commercial Fishing Regulations published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is a binding document for commercial salmon fishermen. It is 113 pages long. In it can be found detailed information about where, when, and how fish can and cannot be caught, sold, and processed. 

     Unfortunately big development proposals aren’t held to such specifics. Alaska’s Title 16 – which deals with all things fish and game – contains the guiding statements for development in sensitive salmon habitat. It says:  

     By law, an activity that will use, divert, obstruct, or change the flow or bed of a specified river, lake, or stream requires a Fish Habitat Permit. The Commissioner of the department of Fish and Game is directed to issue the permit unless the plans for the proposed construction work are “insufficient for the proper protection of fish and game.”   

     That’s it. That’s State law concerning the protection of our salmon from large-scale development projects. 113 pages of rules for set netters, two sentences for Pebble.   

     The problem is, nothing in Title 16 or Alaska Department of Fish and Game regulation defines what is sufficient for the “proper protection of fish and game,” and no review criteria exists to ensure that permitting decisions will protect salmon and the habitat they depend on. 

     The good news is that such a document already exists and has been adopted by the Board of Fisheries. It is called the Sustainable Salmon Policy, and is a comprehensive, thorough and thoughtful document that outlines clear standards for protecting Alaska’s salmon habitat. Unfortunately this common-sense solution has never been officially adopted into law. 

     Recognizing this, I joined with eleven other concerned Alaskans representing commercial, sport, subsistence and personal use fishermen, as well as experts in the field of fishery management, to author a Board of Fisheries proposal that attempts to fix this problem in Title 16 by addressing fish habitat permitting. Our proposal is simple and straightforward: We are asking the Board of Fisheries to recommend that the Legislature amend Title 16 by adding elements of the Sustainable Salmon Policy.

     On Oct. 18-20, the Board of Fisheries will have the opportunity to take action on this proposal at a workshop held in Soldotna. Moving this proposal forward is the first step in ensuring the wild salmon runs that are iconic to our state and so many of us rely on remain strong today and into the future.   

                                                                        ###

Steve Harrison is a commercial fisherman from Talkeetna and one of eleven authors of the Sustainable Salmon Proposal currently being considered by the Alaska Board of Fish.

Train Wreck of a Day

Train Wreck of a Day

“Five…four…three….two…one….GO!”.  My first hour P.E. class blasted off the starting line like they were shot from cannons.  It was cardio day and the workout affectionately known as SIXES was under way.

    I hustled over to the dangling audio jack to pipe in some Pandora radio to keep my students pumped.  Just as I reached for the cord to connect it to my phone,  it rang. “Who could possibly be calling me at 8:45 AM on a Thursday?”, I thought. “Hello?” I said.

    “Hi is this Steve Harrison?”

    “Yes.”

    “I see here that you are signed up for the road kill list and we have a moose down in your area.”  It was Trooper dispatch.   “It was hit by the train.”    Just then a few of my students whizzed by as I stood there dumbfounded with my phone to my ear.   

    “Oh really?”  My heart sunk a little.  I’ve been burned by accepting train kill moose before. On three separate occasions I accepted road-kill moose calls that turned out to be train kills and it wasn’t a good deal, or fun.  When a car hits a moose it’s typically a glancing blow and damage is minimum.  When a train runs over a moose it can be, well, horrific.  All three train kill moose I’ve dealt with were unsalvageable.  On one such occasion as I pulled over at the railroad crossing, I couldn’t help but notice the dozen or so bald eagles perched high atop nearby trees. Lower down in the branches were the magpies and the ravens were interspersed all waiting their turn in the grand pecking order.  As I opened the truck door, the waft of a fully gut-blown moose overcame me.   I will spare the gentle reader at least some of the gory details but I will say that I have never, in my life seen such a grotesquely bloated mess.  It was obvious to me that the moose had been dead for several days and it had been hit with such force that the guts had blown apart affectively releasing gallons of digestive enzymes to begin their work on the moose from the inside out.  Luckily for me, I accepted it, sight unseen over the phone and was therefore committed. Sweet.

    “Can you tell me anything about the condition of the moose?”, I asked.

  “No sir, I’m sorry.” Pause.  I was scrambling to gather as much information as I could because I knew that once you accept a roadkill you are responsible for its proper disposal whether or not any of the meat is salvageable.  

  “If I don’t take this moose, will I be put back to the bottom of the list?”

    “I’m afraid so sir.”

    “Okay, I’ll take it.”

   The Moose Club at SuValley is into its sixth year.  Each winter we accept roadkill moose and teach students how to process a moose from skinning to packaging.   In 2010, we were fortunate to receive funding from the Talkeenta, and Sunshine Community councils through the revenue sharing program.  We were able to purchase all of the commercial grade equipment needed to process meat including a grinder, vacuum packer, sausage mixer, and all of the consumables that go with it.  In addition we built a processing shed.  We got the lumber and all building materials at cost from Moore’s hardware. Our shop class, taught by Bryan Kirby built a nice moose butchering shed complete with lots of outlets, great lighting and heat.  Also we were able to buy a second hand two-place snow machine trailer that we rigged with a winch.  We built a custom moose-sled out of UHMW plastic that allows us to drag the moose onto the trailer with ease.

    So with renewed purpose and a distinct change in the direction of my day, I made arrangements and took off from school to go pick-up the moose.  I met my partner in crime at the railroad crossing.  “Hi dad.”

    “Howdie....hey it’s a legal bull!”  Sure enough the moose had three brow tines which meets the criteria for the general harvest in our game unit.  And as luck would have it this one was in decent shape.  The three year old bull which measured in at a mere 39 inches was odorless and the digestive cavity was intact. Yes! I would find out later that we would lose one front quarter for sure but there was plenty of good salvageable meat.  

     After wedging the black sled under it’s head and shoulders we winched the moose onto the sled and then up onto the tilt trailer.  We found a suitable pull-off to dump the guts and set about gutting it.   We pulled the hind leg as high as we could and tied it off to a thick willow bush.   After making a few key incisions inside the rib cavity the guts came free and slid neatly down the black sled and off the trailer as if by design.

Steve sr. is pulling the pin on the tilt trailer so the guts
and blood will slip-slide down and away from the
carcass and trailer.  No blood touches the trailer.

    By noon four of my veteran, go-to moose clubbers Branden Bettis, Stashia Leonard, Wade Griffin, and Kodiak Olsen were busy skinning the moose.  My part of the work, essentially done would now be to direct traffic, answer questions and supervise.  From here on out the kids do all the work.

From left to right: Stashia, Kodiak, and Wade skinning
the moose while my sixth grade students look on.