BOF Letter Correction
Dear Editor: I would like to make a correction to my rather long letter (apologies) that appeared in the Jan. 26, 2018 Sentinel. I misnamed the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) research paper listed as RC007 (BOF web site). It is properly called the “Origins Memo” and is part of a larger ADFG study that has yet to be completed. This document was published after the Board of Fish (BOF) “On Time Comments” deadline expired on Jan. 28, 2018.
Most people, including two of the BOF members I talked to (perhaps the rest of the Board as well), hadn’t read the report. I call this document Double O Seven or the Stealth Report.
Here’s an interesting revelation from Double O Seven. From 2005 to 2016 trollers harvested 40,985 Wild Alaskan Kings (WAK) in the August opening. In those same years the Ketchikan area sport harvest of WAK was 47,285. Last year trollers were closed in August ostensibly to protect these fish. The newly approved Unuk River Action Plan (UAP) has the same out of state resident annual king salmon bag limit of 3 kings as there was in 2016 and 2017 in the Ketchikan area. In contrast the last 12 years of the late winter troll fishery (January 1 to April 30) had a harvest of 41,505 WAK. Because of this the BOF cut the late winter season by 6 weeks. What about the 47,285 WAK harvested in the Ketchikan area sport fishery?
The lack of familiarity of important studies on king salmon in SEAK by nearly everyone at the BOF underlines the complexity of the subject. Late in the meeting board members submitted significant amendments to the Action Plan after which they miraculously decided the issue without oral input on the amendments from effected parties. As two board members told me they also didn’t read the written comments (RC) on the amendments because of time constraints. It was odd that these catastrophic Chinook Action Plans were tacked on to the already crowded Sitka BOF meeting schedule in the first place. This year’s BOF process in my opinion was unusual and, for trollers, ominous.
Matt Donohoe, Sitka
Edgecumbe Invitational
Dear Editor: I would like to thank all who supported the 12th annual Mt. Edgecumbe Invitational Basketball Tournament last week. Twenty-three teams from around Alaska participated in the four-day event! We had a great number of spectators and record number of games played! All of the proceeds from the tournament go directly back to MEHS activities.
Thank you to our local sponsors: Schmolck Mechanical, Westmark, Sitka Bottling, Sitka CHARR and Sitka Referees Association.
Thank you also to all of our volunteers: Keith Perkins, Rose Demmert, KathyHope Erickson, Nick Olney-Miller, Ingfrid Olney-Miller, Judy Gangle, Sam Martin, Hillary Martin, Bryn Calhoun, Jarred Rivera, Billy Brown, Sydney Evenson, Kurt Kuhne, Terry Friske and Chester Miyasato for volunteering many hours on and off the court.
Thank you also to the MEHS students and staff that worked extra-long hours to help produce a great event. Special thanks to student workers Kori Itta-Tomas, Ethan Ivan, Izayah Liu and Nelson Jackson for going above and beyond!
Again, thank you for supporting MEHS and our students.
Andrew Friske
MEHS Residential
and Activities Principal
