Salmon Trolling
Dear Editor: Commercial salmon trollers in Sitka and the rest of Southeast Alaska are confused by the Department of Fish and Game’s position on the devastating universal closure of the 2017 spring commercial troll fishery. The department says that this emergency action is to protect local wild runs but if this is so then it’s strange that the sport and industrial charter fisheries remain unchanged. If an emergency exists why close trollers who aren’t targeting these fish but do nothing with the fisheries that are?
The spring troll hatchery king fishery is always very limited in area and designed to target Alaska hatchery fish produced by an exclusive 3 percent assessment tax on the commercial fishermen’s gross salmon income. This spring the areas trollers were allowed to fish were even more reduced for conservation. The areas when and where fishermen are known to have encounters with regional wild stocks have been closed or limited to commercial trollers in May and June (when local wild stocks might be present) for the last 30 years yet they are still open to sport fishermen and the industrial charter fleet. At the least, the Sport Division of ADF&G should prohibit the deadly fishing technique know as mooching, a favorite tool of the industrial charter industry, but so far they haven’t.
It seems that ADF&G’s knee-jerk response to a king salmon “emergency” in Southeast Alaska is to throw trollers under the bus again but do nothing else. It’s not surprising that commercial fishermen believe this closure is really about the pretense of conservation and not the reality.
Matt Donohoe, Sitka
Government Shutdown
Dear Editor: Republican Senate President Pete Kelly has sent senators on vacation from the current Special Session until June 12. That’s a recipe to threaten a government shutdown. He’s done that in the past. It puts politics ahead of people’s jobs.
I get it: negotiators like leverage. Kelly hopes he can get his way, and his budget that fires as many as 700 more public school teachers, counselors and support staff. He wants his way, which puts oil companies ahead of seniors, schools, children, and people with disabilities. He will cut funds for them but spend $360 million we can’t afford on special interest oil company subsidies.
Kelly’s Senate plan puts wealthy donors ahead of everyone else. It threatens the livelihood and burdens the income of everyone, myself included, while excusing oil companies and 6,000 corporations exempted from any state corporate tax from chipping in.
Every economist says this plan leaves a big deficit, and makes our recession worse. Senator Kelly: please stop stalling and work with the bi-partisan House Majority. Do what’s right for all Alaskans, not just your corporate allies who don’t want to help fix our deficit.
Devin Tatro, Sitka
