Petersburg plays host to

Board of Fisheries meeting

Robert Monteith

January 22, 2009.

Petersburg will host the Board of Fisheries meeting this week. Running from January 21-27, the meetings will focus primarily on Southeast Alaska and Yakutat crab, shrimp, and shellfish fisheries. Petersburg resident John Jensen will chair the meeting. He has been a part of the Board of Fisheries for seven years.

The week long round of discussions began Wednesday with an introduction of board members and staff. Later in the day, staff gave updates on their latest reports concerning crab, shrimp, and shellfish numbers. Public testimony was also scheduled to be heard on many of the 65 proposals being considered by the board.

In its first day, the meeting often attracted standing room only crowds to the Sons of Norway hall as presenters gave the latest update on local fisheries.

Public testimony will continue into Thursday, but those interested will need to sign up before 10 AM in order to speak. The board will consider written comments, however, throughout their meetings.

Later in the week, the Board of Fisheries will break into committees to discuss proposals and public suggestions, which will be allowed throughout committee hearings. Committees meeting for king and tanner crab, sport shellfish, and shrimp will begin Thursday afternoon. Committees on Dungeness Crab and miscellaneous shellfish are expected to begin Friday afternoon. Finally, the board will reconvene for deliberations on Sunday and will continue with them until they adjourn on Tuesday.

Many of the proposals directly affect Petersburg fisheries, including reporting requirements for commercial shrimp vessels, changes to shrimp beam trawl harvest ranges and bycatch guidelines, and a five year closure of commercial Dungeness crab fishing between the north end of Wrangell Narrows and Mountain Point.

Another proposal asks that the Board of Fisheries recognize traditional subsistence use of red king crab in waters near Petersburg by establishing a customary and traditional use finding.

Several proposals also offer alternative solutions to the red and blue king crab management and allocation plan.

A full list of the proposals and department reports can be found at the Alaska Fish and Game website.