Dividing the Copper River's reds: The commercial fishermen pay for hatchery salmon

Published as a Community Perspective article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, November 20, 2011.

As a recent graduate of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a new member of the commercial drift gillnet fleet in Cordova, I need to address several points surrounding News-Miner columnist Dermot Cole’s Nov. 10 article about the Chitina dip-netting dispute.

Cole spent a portion of his article discussing the “special tactic” that was used by commercial fisherman attending the 2010 Board of Fish meeting. The truth of the matter is this “special tactic,” which entails members of the audience standing up when they agree with the person testifying, was actually suggested by the Board of Fish. It is a lengthy process for the Board of Fish to decide how to proceed with statewide fish matters, because most of the issues are complicated and don’t have easy answers. By implementing this “special tactic” for a group of people who all will use their three-minute public testimony for a similar viewpoint, it saves time for the board, allowing it to be more efficient.

Cole also referenced the subsistence issue and the Chitina dip-net fishery, which will be discussed at the December meeting of the Board of Fish. The Chitina dip-net fishery cannot technically be considered a subsistence fishery for users outside the immediate Chitina area because they cannot demonstrate all eight of the customary and traditional use criteria that are used by the Board of Fish to establish a subsistence standing (see the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website).

Chitina is too far away from Fairbanks to justify the effort and expense of dip netting as subsistence activity, specifically “a pattern of taking or use consisting of methods and means of harvest that are characterized by efficiency and economy of effort and cost.”

Most people from Fairbanks can’t claim they rely on a wide variety of fish and game resources, displaying “a pattern that includes taking, use, and reliance for subsistence purposes upon a wide diversity of fish and game resources and that provides substantial economic, cultural, social and nutritional elements of the subsistence way of life.”

That’s why the fishery is categorized as personal use, not subsistence. It’s great that people from Fairbanks and other regions of the state have this opportunity. I’ll be the first to tell you that you can’t find a better red salmon anywhere.

Looking at the $325,000-plus I have wrapped up in my boat, gear and permit, I have a vested economic interest in making sure that there are fish returning to the Copper River spawning areas. I want to make sure there will be enough fish to catch to feed my kids, put clothes on their backs and send them to college at UAF like generations of other Cordovans. I’m not out to take away anyone’s privileges; in fact, part of my fishing money makes sure that fish are returning to the Copper River for everyone to use.

All of the permit holders in Area E (the Copper River Delta and Prince William Sound), including purse seiners, set netters and drift gillnetters, contribute 2 percent of their gross income directly to the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation. It runs five hatcheries, including the Gulkana hatchery, which provides Copper River red salmon. Also, PSWAC hatcheries catch and sell a portion of the returning salmon as cost recovery to offset their operating costs. For the Gulkana hatchery, cost recovery actually takes place in Prince William Sound with Prince William Sound fish, leaving more salmon available for sport, personal use and subsistence on the Copper River.

This means commercial fishermen are footing Gulkana’s annual bill of almost $700,000 with no additional funding from local or state sources to create more salmon for sport, personal use, subsistence and commercial users. Looking at subsistence and personal use harvest of these fish, PSWAC’s hatchery is making a big difference. According to PSWAC, “between 1999 and 2008, Alaskans from more than 40 communities across the state harvested 403,000 PWSAC sockeye in the Copper River personal use and subsistence fisheries.”

Most of the commercial fisherman in the Copper River drift gillnet fleet are from Alaska. That’s why they support a hatchery that allows all Alaskans to have an opportunity to harvest Copper River reds. The bottom line is we all have to realize these conflicts aren’t going to get any less pointed. And we all want healthy returns of salmon every year in the Copper River.

Mike Mickelson was born and raised in Cordova, graduated from UAF in 2006 with a degree in elementary education and has spent two seasons running his own drift gillnet operation. He lives in Cordova.