King salmon took center stage at an annual sportfishing roundtable in Soldotna last week. The event brought together politicians, conservationists and other industry stakeholders for a day of discussions and debate about the future of the iconic fish.
The roundtable is put on by the Kenai River Sportfishing Association, or KRSA. The nonprofit organization is the largest sportfishing advocacy group in Alaska. Kevin Delaney is the group’s senior fisheries management consultant and teed up this year’s speakers in his opening remarks.
“These are the people that either had or have their hands on the controls,” he said.
The roundtable’s first panel focused on the status of Alaska king salmon and included Doug Vincent-Lang. He’s commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and says king salmon are most vulnerable to environmental changes because they live longer than any other type of Alaska salmon.
Vincent-Lang says they have a better idea of the threats king salmon face in fresh water than in saltwater. It's clear something is negatively impacting king salmon while they’re in the ocean, he says, but exactly what is unclear. Warm water, for example, doesn’t spell success for cold-blooded salmon and could be a factor in why they fish are coming back smaller and younger.
“If the ocean and the warmer temperature has a different kind of diet makeup, or a different kind of food source out there that's not as nutritious as it was when it's colder, you're on a treadmill eating less nutritious fish,” he said. “So you're losing weight. So it's not a good place to be. So you come back early, and you come back younger.”
And Vincent-Lang says concerns about preserving salmon habitat have spurred additional action, like the state’s streambank revegetation program. He says those types of initiatives are better ways to boost king salmon than ongoing efforts to designate the species as endangered.
Last year, the Washington-based nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy filed a petition to give Gulf of Alaska king salmon endangered species protections. The move was met with criticism from all levels of Alaska government, including Vincent-Lang.
“Everybody thinks king salmon are in trouble. We're still harvesting 400-500,000 king salmon in the state of Alaska. You know, if these things were clearly at the risk of extinction, we would not be harvesting a half million of these fish.”
Vincent-Lang says he’s also encouraged by this year’s Kenai River king salmon data.
Just over 2,500 large king salmon returned to the Kenai River before July 1. That's higher than the department's preseason estimate of about 1,500 large kings for the river's early run. But it's about 2,400 fish less than the lower end of the department's optimal escapement goal. When that escapement goal isn't hit, state restrictions on some of the area's commercial salmon fisheries are triggered.
Data from the Kenai River’s late-run fishery were more positive. After the run ended on Aug. 20, more than 15,600 large king salmon were counted, including some that spawned below the sonar. That’s almost double the department's preseason estimate, and is within the department’s optimal escapement range.
Roundtable attendees also heard from all three members of Alaska’s Congressional delegation about what they’re doing to preserve sportfishing opportunities.
Sen. Dan Sullivan says he’s working to reauthorize the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund Act, which awards money to boost fishery restoration, boating access and infrastructure for sport fishermen. And Rep. Nick Begich says he’s seeking federal funding for research into Alaska fisheries.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she’s trying to secure money for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.
“You have a very united delegation when it comes to making sure that we're attending to the ways that we can not only look to the health of the fisheries, but all that goes with them,” she said. “Everything that it means for community projects here in the region and across the state to support our fisheries, all that we can do to improve our waterways.”
This year’s full Kenai Classic Roundtable can be streamed on the Kenai River Sportfishing Association’s YouTube channel.
