The Alaska Board of Fisheries won’t hold its next Upper Cook Inlet Finfish meeting on the Kenai Peninsula. That’s after a 5-1 vote on Tuesday in favor of holding the meeting in Anchorage.
The vote came amid concentrated local efforts to bring the meeting back to the Kenai Peninsula for the first time in a quarter century. It also came after just six minutes of debate by board members.
Board member Mike Wood, of Talkeetna, was the sole member to vote against holding the next round of meetings in Anchorage. He proposed Kenai as an alternative location.
“Now I'm not saying that what I'm proposing is go to Kenai and stay there,” he said. “What I would say is, let's rotate year after year after year, if possible, so that we can hear directly out of the Kenai community and also the Mat-Su community. I believe the past tensions that once existed aren't there anymore.”
Those who support rotating the meetings between the Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough say the schedule would allow board members to hear more input from fishery participants. Those opposed say Anchorage is a central location and can best accommodate the board’s meeting.
Board member Tom Carpenter, of Cordova, said he knows the central peninsula’s facilities have improved over the years, but suggested the high concentration of fishery user groups in the area was a problem.
“I am also for going to communities and getting as close to the user group,” he said. “But when you talk about the Kenai Peninsula, specifically, this is where the user groups are. And the other problem is that trying to rotate something between Anchorage and Kenai and then back to Wasilla, I don't think that you can hold future boards to that.”
All six of the Kenai Peninsula’s incorporated communities signed onto a proposal created earlier this fall by the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District, or KPEDD, to bring the next round of meetings to the peninsula.
The proposal outlined lodging and venue accommodations, and plugged the Soldotna Field House as a potential location to meet the board’s meeting needs. The field house is under construction and is expected to open next year.
Cassidi Cameron is KPEDD’s executive director. On Wednesday, she said via text message that the central peninsula was ready to “roll out the red carpet” for the opportunity to host the meeting. She said KPEDD appreciates Wood’s willingness to engage with a broader range of stakeholders.
“We are disappointed at the decision and response, but also not surprised based on the historic decision of the Board of Fish with this same request in the past,” she said.
Board member Gerad Godfrey was absent and did not vote on the meeting location.
The first and second days of the board’s work session can be streamed on the board’s YouTube channel.