Well, the Kasilof River is open to sport-fishing with actual photographic evidence of success in the Clarion. Soon commercial fishermen will be putting their nets in the water, and charter guides will be roaring up and down the Kenai at 6 a.m., followed by the thundering hordes of dipnetters in July.
Every gear type wants a good season, even if tempers flare when it gets crowded, because if it’s a bad season, we all blame each other. And that’s bad for the economy of the entire Central Kenai Peninsula. Today we flashback to the Kenai Economic Development Forum a few months ago for the presentation by three of the 16 members of “The Salmon Fellows,” a think tank brought together by the Alaska Humanities Forum.
Tim Dillon introduced the three, Jennifer Gibbins, Mary Sattler-Peltola and Ben Mohr.
Gibbins is the Leadership Program manager for the Alaska Humanities Forum:
A representative from an Alaska Native perspective, which includes subsistence and commercial fishing from Western Alaska was provided by Mary Sattler-Peltola, the co-chair of the Kuskokwim Salmon Management Group and a 6-year state house representative from Bethel.
Mohr had worked in mining, but did advise Gov. Parnell on resource issues. He currently works for CIRI, the largest private landholder on the Kenai Peninsula.
And since he comes from industry, and it was an industry forum after all, Mohr put out an appeal for others in his position to get involved.
And there is no number this week because we were talking about salmon. Priorities, right?
